2014 al-Dalwah attack

2014 al-Dalwah attack
Location on Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia
Location	al-Dalwah, al-Ahsa, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
Date	3 November 2014
Target	shia mosque
Attack type	mass shooting
Weapons	Guns
Deaths	7 (+2 attackers)
Non-fatal injuries	9
Perpetrators	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

The 2014 al-Dalwah attack occurred on 3 November 2014 at al-Dalwah village in the eastern province of al-Ahsa, when three unknown masked gunmen shot at a group of people killing at least seven and injuring dozens.^[1][2][3] The attack occurred on Ashura and is thought to be targeting Shi’ite Muslims. Six people have since been arrested and one suspect has been killed.

On 4 November at least 2 police and two gunmen were killed in operation after 5 people were shot dead and another wounded.^[4] According to Saudi security, the leader of the gunmen had previously slipped back into the kingdom after fighting in Iraq and Syria.^[1]

While the government and the official media and religious establishment strongly condemned the attack, a handful of articles in the Saudi press argued that the attack "had not come out of nowhere", that there was anti-Shi'ite incitement in the kingdom on the part of "the religious establishment, preachers, and even university lecturers – and that it was on the rise".^[5]

Details

On 24 November, 21 days after the attack, the Saudi Interior Ministry revealed the identity of the attackers on the Al dalwah Shiite shrine in Al-Ahsa: Abdullah Al-Sarhan, Khalid Anzi, Marwan Nail, and Tariq Maimoni. Saudi security authorities have arrested 77 people linked to ISIS.^[6]

References