The security spokesman of the Ministry of the Interior said that on the morning of Friday Ramadan 28, 1438, June 23, 2017, the security forces succeeded in thwarting an imminent terrorist act targeting the security of the Grand Mosque and worshippers by a terrorist group stationed in three locations. The security spokesman explained that one of the sites was in the province of Jeddah, and the two others were in Makkah: the first in the neighborhood of Asilah, and the second in Ajyad Al-Masafi, located within the perimeter of the central area of the Grand Mosque. It is a three-storey house that contained the suicide bomber in charge of implementation. When the security men began to surround him, he fired at them, which required a response to him in order to neutralize his danger after refusing to respond to their calls to surrender himself, and continued to shoot heavily before exploding himself, resulting in his death, the collapse of the building that he was holed in and the wounding of 6 expatriates who were taken to hospital, in addition to the injury of 5 security personnel with minor injuries. The security spokesman said that the security operation resulted in the arrest of 5 elements of the cell, including a woman, after raiding their positions referred to above, and the interest of the investigation requires anonymity. The security authorities are still conducting their investigations, lifting the remaining evidence at the site of the explosion and verifying the identity of the suicide bomber. The Ministry of the Interior stated that, as it declares this, it confirms that this terrorist network, whose terrorist plan was thwart, violated, in what they would have perpetrated, all sanctities by targeting the security of the Grand Mosque, the holiest place on Earth. They obeyed their evil and corrupt selves serving schemes managed from abroad whose aim is to destabilize the security and stability of this blessed country. The security people, with the help of Almighty Allah, and then the unlimited support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince, will be able to foil these criminal schemes and arrest those involved in them.
