The Al Saud ruling family
considers itself the protectors of Islam's holiest sites, Medina and Mecca.
Four security guards were
killed on Monday outside the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, Islam's second holiest
site, as suicide attackers also struck two other cities.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman
bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has vowed that his government will "strike with an
iron fist", a day after a series of bombings hit the country.
"The kingdom is fully
determined to strike with an iron fist all those who aim at the minds or ideas
of our dear young people," Salman said on Tuesday, in an address to the
nation for the Islamic feast of Eid al-Fitr.
Following the attack,
Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, Saudi's crown prince who is spearheading the
country's anti-terror efforts, visited wounded victims, as he sought to
reassure Saudis that the country's security "is at its highest
levels".
"I know confronting
terror operations is not simple. The simple repercussions you feel following
the explosion will go away. I’ve been through this experience before and I
[understand] how you feel," Al Arabiya TV quoted him as saying.
No group has claimed
responsibility for the attack in Medina, or for two other suicide bombings the
same day outside a Shia mosque in the eastern city of Qatif and near the US
consulate in Jeddah.
The Jeddah bombing killed
only the attacker, and no casualties other than the bomber have been reported
in Qatif.
The Saudi interior ministry
identified the Jeddah attacker as Abdullah Waqar Khan, a Pakistani national in
his early 30s. In a tweet, the ministry said that Khan, a driver, had moved to
Jeddah 12 years ago to live with his wife and her parents.
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