ISIL Claims Responsibility For Saudi Mosque Suicide Blasts

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a mosque in southwest Saudi Arabia that killed at least 15 people, the group said in a statement on Thursday.

One of its fighters wearing an explosive belt triggered the blast, the ISIL statement said.

The blast, which was triggered by a suicide bomber, killed 15 people at a mosque inside a Special Forces headquarters in Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that 10 of those killed were members of the country’s security forces.

The Interior Ministry spokesman, Major General Mansour al-Turki, said on Thursday that the “terrorist” attack took place during noon prayers in the city of Abha, in the southern province of Asir.

Mr al-Takur said that nine other people were wounded in the attack, three of them seriously.

He further said that the bomb targeted police trainees as they were in the middle of prayer.

Twelve of those killed were members of a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit, while the other three were workers at the compound, officials said.