OMAN SHIA MOSQUE ATTACKERS WERE OMANI CITIZENS, POLICE SAY

The 3 gunmen who shot and killed 6 people at a Shia mosque in Oman in an attack claimed by Daesh on 16 July 2024 were all Omani nationals, police said on 18 July 2024 [Amaq News Agency/ Telegram]

Fri 19 July 2024:

The three gunmen who shot and killed six people at a Shia Muslim mosque in Oman in an attack claimed by Daesh this week were all Omani nationals, police said today according to Reuters.

The assault began on Monday evening at the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi Al-Kabir neighbourhood of Oman’s capital Muscat as Shia Muslims gathered to mark Ashura.

NINE KILLED IN OMAN SHIA MOSQUE GUN ATTACK

The Royal Oman Police said the three gunmen were brothers and “were killed due to their insistence on resisting security personnel.” It said that police investigations had indicated the three gunmen were “influenced by misguided ideas”.

The six people killed by the gunmen were four Pakistani nationals, an Indian, and a police officer responding to the attack, which Daesh later claimed responsibility for.

Pakistan has labelled the assault a terror attack.

On Tuesday Daesh said that three of its “suicide attackers” fired on worshippers at the mosque on Monday evening and exchanged gunfire with Omani security forces until morning.

🇴🇲⚡ Islamic State official media shares a video message from the attackers on the Shia Mosque in Wadi Al-Kabir, Muscat, Oman. pic.twitter.com/myyf1yq0A9

— War Watch (@WarWatchs) July 18, 2024

The Sunni militant group also published what it said was a video of the attack on its Telegram site.

Dozens of people at the mosque in Oman were wounded with around 30 people treated at local hospitals, including for gunshot wounds.

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Monday evening marked the beginning of Ashura, an annual period of mourning, which many Shia Muslims mark publicly, to commemorate the 7th century death of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).

The attack was largely unprecedented in Oman, where most of its citizens follow the Ibadi Muslim faith that shares many similarities with mainstream Sunni Islam. Oman has a small but influential Omani Shia population. Like other Gulf countries, there is a large and significant foreign workforce in Oman too.

-MEMO

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