The clampdown on extremism broadened on Friday as Saudi Arabia’s security forces have arrested another 8 people in Monday’s terrorist attack in a Shiite village in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, according to media reports, including two police officers.
The raids were conducted simultaneously across the country, including in Riyadh, Qassim and the Eastern Province, Arab News reported noting a “heavy police presence in Riyadh.”
It is unknown to what extent police officers were involved in the attack. No further information on today’s arrests was immediately available from the Saudi Press Agency.
Officials arrive to visit wounded from Monday’s Al-Ahsa Terror Strike, via SPA.
As the Government continues to crack down on alleged extremists with ties to those who perpetrated Monday’s terrorist attack in Al-Ahsa in the Eastern Province, Saudi officials visited citizens wounded by the attack in the hospital.
On Monday, gunmen killed seven people in the Shiite village of al-Dalwah in a brazen attack labeled as “terrorist” by the Saudi government, which has called for calm and unity after the attack. The group was reportedly organized by an extremist that infiltrated Saudi Arabia’s border, reports Glen Carey of Bloomberg who cited unnamed reports in the Saudi Gazette and al-Hayat.
“This would be the first time that a Saudi returning from the latest conflicts in Iraq and Syria attacked targets in the world’s largest oil exporter, raising concern that sectarian violence may escalate,” Carey noted.
The total death toll from the attack on Monday and the following clampdown on the perpetrators is now at 13, according to Arab News.
