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Islamic world decries triple bombings in Saudi Arabia

The BBC reports that an interior ministry spokesman has named a suicide bomber whose attack killed four security officers near a mosque in the sacred city of Medina as Naer Muslim Hamad, a 26-year-old Saudi man.

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Seven people are believed to have been killed and two wounded in the Medina attacks, at a Shiite mosque in Qatif and in western Jeddah, the economic capital, not far from the United States consulate.

Regional political actors on Tuesday condemned a string of suicide attacks that rocked different parts of Saudi Arabia one day earlier, killing nine people.

The Medina bomber had traveled outside the country several times, most recently early this year, a ministry spokesman said on Saudi TV, adding that nitroglycerin from the blasts in Qatif, Medina, and Jeddah seemed to match, suggesting they may have been coordinated.

Salam “expressed Lebanon’s solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its war on terrorism, which proved by targeting the sacred al-Masjid al-Nabawi mosque, that no innocent person, sacred site or special Islamic occasion is spared, and that it has no links with Islam or Muslims”.

Salman said his country would strike with an “iron hand” against people who preyed on youth vulnerable to religious extremism.

The Medina attack, 24 hours before the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, drew condemnation from Muslim leaders worldwide.

A bombing near the USA consulate in Jeddah on the same day killed only the attacker, and no casualties other than the bomber have been reported in Qatif.

On Tuesday, officials identified the suicide bomber who struck outside the U.S. consulate in Jiddah in a third attack on the same day. In a tweet, the ministry said that Khan, a driver, had moved to Jeddah 12 years ago to live with his wife and her parents.

Many observers suspect the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) of being behind the bombings.

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The group has targeted Saudi security personnel before.

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