DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Several gunmen stormed into a Shiite mosque in the Gulf Arab nation of Oman and opened fire, killing six people and wounding nearly 30, authorities said Tuesday, shocking the peaceful state and marking the deadliest such attack in the country in recent years.
The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in the capital Muscat through an affiliated news agency without providing evidence, marking the first time a Sunni militant group has claimed responsibility for an attack in Oman.
It is not new for the Islamic State, which considers Shiites to be heretics, to target Shiite worshippers on the eve of holy days. The group claimed responsibility for the attack in January. about the attack that killed 84 people in Shiite-majority Iran.
What’s most shocking, analysts say, is that the attack took place in Oman, a quiet country on the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula with well-trained security forces, a non-intervention policy and a majority of its population Ibadi Muslims, a more liberal branch of Islam that predates the Sunni-Shiite split.
“This shows that ISIS is thinking outside the box and trying to exploit small gaps in countries’ security systems to do something that most people would think is impossible,” said Aaron Y. Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Oman has tended to stay out of the sectarian conflict that has rocked the region and is not known to have an Islamic State affiliate there, but Islamic extremists, including an affiliate of the Islamic State and al-Qaida, have bases in neighbouring war-torn Yemen.
The Royal Oman Police said the shooting killed five worshippers at the mosque in Muscat’s Wadi Kabir district and one police officer. Omani authorities did not say how many gunmen were involved or their nationalities, but said security forces killed three of the attackers.
At least 28 people, including police and medical personnel, were wounded in the shooting, Omani police said, as the mosque was packed with worshippers offering special prayers on the eve of a Shiite festival of mourning. AshuraThis day commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in Karbala, Iraq, in the 7th century.
Pakistan confirmed that four of the dead were its nationals. Around two million migrants from Pakistan and South Asia help fuel Oman’s economy with low-skilled jobs such as construction.
Analysts said the unusual shooting was the latest example of Islamic State targeting attacks further afield after losing territory in Iraq and Syria about five years ago.
“This is part of a reorganization from a group mostly responsible for operations in Iraq and Syria to one that leverages resources in a global network,” Zelin said. The deadly attack at a Moscow concert hall in March Other bombings claimed by the group’s regional affiliate, Islamic State of Khorasan, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “This makes them tougher in a way.”
The US Embassy in Muscat issued a security alert, warning citizens to “remain vigilant.”
Oman, like other Gulf emirates, maintains tight control over traditional media, and the country’s state-run news agency on Tuesday praised authorities for their success in containing the unrest but offered little information about the status of the investigation or the attack itself.
In an interview with the English-language daily Times of Oman, an unidentified Pakistani worshipper at the mosque described scenes of fear and mayhem, reporting that the gunfight, which included both the attack and the subsequent exchange of fire with Omani police, lasted for about an hour and a half.
Statements of condolence and outrage were issued from across the region, where Oman plays a delicate role.
Oman maintains friendly ties with both Saudi Arabia, the traditional heartland of Sunni Islam, and regional rival Shiite power Iran. Iran’s foreign ministry said it “stands in solidarity with Oman against such attempts to stoke discord.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif said he was “deeply saddened” by the shooting and offered his country’s cooperation in the investigation.
