Saudi IDs bomber after kingdom's deadliest attack in years

Saudi Arabia has identified the suicide bomber who killed 21 worshippers at a mosque for the minority Shiite community, the deadliest attack in years to strike the Sunni-dominated kingdom.
"His name was Salih bin Abdulrahman Salih al-Ghishaami, a Saudi national," the interior ministry said yesterday in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
"He was wanted by security services for belonging to a terrorist cell receiving directions from Daesh abroad," it said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group.
On Friday IS said it was behind the murders in Eastern Province, the first time the group has officially claimed an attack in Saudi Arabia.

But it identified the bomber as Abu Amer al-Najdi.
"The cell was discovered last month, and so far 26 of its members, all Saudi nationals, have been arrested," the interior ministry said.

"The criminal investigation lab examined the remains of the terrorist's body and the crime scene, and it was determined that the type of explosives used was RDX," commonly used in military applications.
In its statement, the interior ministry raised the number of wounded from 81 to 101.
The bomber struck during the main weekly prayers at a mosque in Kudeih, in the Shiite-majority city of Qatif.
It is the second mass murder of Shiites in the kingdom since late last year, and locals in Qatif took to the streets yesterday to protest against the attack.

In November, attackers which authorities said were linked to IS, killed seven Shiites including children in the Eastern Province town of Al-Dalwa. The victims were celebrating Ashura, one of the holiest days of their faith.
Although Sunni extremists attacked Westerners and government targets in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2007, the Dalwa shootings were the first major militant assault against Shiites.
The killings followed the declaration of a "caliphate" in parts of Iraq and Syria by the IS group, which considers Shiites heretics.
IS has claimed numerous atrocities including the beheading of foreign hostages.
Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Gulf neighbours last year joined a US-led military coalition bombing IS in Syria, raising concerns about possible retaliation in the kingdom.

In its statement claiming responsibility for the Qatif attack, IS vowed "dark days ahead" for Shiites until militants "chase them from the Arabian Peninsula".