Angus McDowall - Suicide Bombings Hit Three Saudi Cities In One Day // Dhaka restaurant attackers followed controversial Indian Islamic preacher

RIYADH (Reuters) - Suicide bombers struck three cities across Saudi Arabia on Monday, killing at least four security officers in an apparently coordinated campaign of attacks as Saudis prepared to break their fast on the penultimate day of the holy month of Ramadan.

The explosions targeting U.S. diplomats, Shi’ite worshippers and a security headquarters at a mosque in the holy city of Medina followed days of mass killings claimed by the Islamic State group in Turkey, Bangladesh and Iraq. The attacks all seem to have been timed to coincide with the approach of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that celebrates the end of the Islamic holy month.


A suicide bomber detonated a bomb at a parking lot outside the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, the second-holiest site in Islam, a Saudi security spokesman told state news agency SPA. “Security men noticed a suspicious person among those approaching the Prophet’s Mosque in an open area used as parking lots for visitors’ cars. As they confronted him, he blew himself up with an explosive belt, which resulted in his death and the martyrdom of four of the security men,” the spokesman said. Five other officers were wounded, the statement added.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/saudi-medina-bombing_us_577a9151e4b09b4c43c0e974?section=

Dhaka restaurant attackers followed 'ISIS  recruiters', controversial Indian Islamic preacher
Two of the five young militants who have slaughtered 20 innocent people Friday night at Holey Artisan Bakery used to follow three controversial Islamists -- Anjem Choudary, Shami Witness and Zakir Nayek. Militant killer Nibras Islam, 22, used to follow two alleged suspected recruiters of Islamic State -- Anjem Choudary and Shami Witness -- on Twitter in 2014. Another killer Rohan Imtiaz, son of an Awami League leader, propagated on Facebook last year quoting Peace TV’s controversial preacher Zakir Nayek “urging all Muslims to be terrorists”. A Pakistan-origin British citizen, 49-year-old Anjem is now facing trial in England for breaking the British anti-terrorism law. Shami Witness is the Twitter name of 24-year-old Mehdi Biswas of Bangalore in India, who is also facing trial for running propaganda for the IS. Shami was arrested in December 2014 following an investigation into his Twitter account which was last active in August 2014. Anjem’s twitter account became inactive from August 2015 after terror charges were brought against him.

Dr Nayek is banned in UK, Canada and Malaysia and is a controversial figure in his home country India. He is wildly popular in Bangladesh through his Peace TV although his preaching often demeans other religions and even other Muslim sects. This means at least in the case Nibras and Rohan, they  did not become radicalised overnight. They have been consuming radical materials for one to two years before finally disappearing in February-March and reappearing as “IS killers” Friday night at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan.

From their pictures posted by the IS media and recirculated by the SITE Intelligence Group, it can be assumed that these young men received arms training after their disappearance specifically to carry out the killing mission on July 1. Their attire with IS logo in their backdrop, the automatic rifles held in their hands reveal they underwent an organised training which is far from anything amateurish. That the killers released some of the hostages 15 minutes before the army-led operation on Saturday morning also showed the depth of their brains being washed—that they were ready to die. While this is a bit different from committing suicide, but it takes extra-ordinary will force to remain ready to die.


The killers had uploaded grizzly pictures of their deeds at the Holey Artisan Bakery by midnight Friday —which was re-uploaded by the IS media claiming to have killed 20 people. These pictures widely circulated in the Internet also reveal the mind sets of the killers. All the women victims were blurred in the pictures. Militants say it is a sin to show pictures of women, who they do not mind killing or raping... read more:
Indian Express report
Daily Star (Dhaka) report

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