Tighter security in Saudi Arabia has made it very hard for the Islamic State to target the government so the militants are alternatively trying to incite a sectarian conflict through attacks on the Shi’ite Muslim minority, the Saudi Interior Ministry has said. Reuters has more:
Last week the Sunni group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called for attacks against the Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, which has declared Islamic State a terrorist organization, joined international air strikes against it, and mobilized top clergy to denounce it.
He spoke after an attack on Shi’ite civilians, the first since 2006 by militant Saudis based inside the kingdom.
Islamic State has not claimed the shooting and the Saudis have not held the group responsible but they arrested more than 50 people including some who fought with Sunni jihadis in Syria or had been previously jailed for fighting with al Qaeda.
As the world’s top oil exporter, birthplace of Islam and a champion of conservative Sunni doctrine, Saudi Arabia represents an important ally for Western countries battling Islamic State and a symbolic target for the militant group itself.
“Islamic State and al Qaeda are doing their best to carry out terrorist acts or crimes inside Saudi Arabia,” Major General Mansour Turki, security spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told Reuters.
