LOC23:29
20:29 GMT
RIYADH, May 23 (KUNA) -- The suicide bomber who attacked a mosque packed with worshippers in the eastern Saudi governorate of Al-Qatif was a Saudi national who belongs to so-called Islamic State (ISIL), the interior ministry confirmed Saturday.
Saleh Abdulrahman Al-Qashami, who detonated the explosive belt he was wearing inside the mosque in Al-Qediah town in Al-Qatif yesterday, is "wanted for belonging to a terrorist cell which received instructions from the terrorist ISIL from abroad," the ministry's spokesman said in a statement, cited by the official SPA news agency.
He said 26 members of this cell have been arrested, all Saudi nationals. He added that laboratory test showed that the explosives used in the attack were RDX.
Twenty-one people were killed and 88 others injured in the suicide attack.
The spokesman, meanwhile, elaborated on the involvement of the cell members.
He said five of them were involved in a shooting at a security patrol in the south of Riyadh last month. The remaining 21 cell members are accused of adopting ISIL ideology, recruiting young people, collecting money to finance their operations and harboring wanted persons, including Al-Qashami. (end)
od.bs