Foiling Attack on Grand Mosque ‘Fabricated’ by New Saudi Crown Prince: Opposition Figure
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Saudi Arabia’s leading opposition figure, Hamza al-Hassan, said a recent planned terror attack on the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca was a state-sponsored false-flag operation orchestrated by Saudi Arabia's new crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“Foiling the attack in the shrine was a fabrication aimed at winning the popular support for bin Salman and covering up the issue of (Muhammad) bin Nayef’s removal (from power)”, al-Hassan said in a message posted on his Twitter account on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry claimed that the country’s security forces had foiled a suicide attack on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, cornering the alleged potential attacker before he blew himself up.
The ministry asserted that three cells had planned the attack on worshippers and security forces at the mosque as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan nears its climax.
The trapped would-be suicide bomber exchanged fire with the security forces, then set off explosives when he was surrounded in a house in a central Mecca neighborhood, the ministry said.
The building collapsed, injuring six foreigners and five members of the security forces.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the plot to attack the mosque.
In fresh allegations on Sunday, however, the Saudi regime accused Iran of being behind the attack, claiming that it has arrested three Iranian nationals in relation to the incident.
The Grand Mosque houses Islam's holiest site, the cube-shaped Kaaba that Islam's followers pray toward five times a day.
