Four police officers killed in Madinah suicide bomb attack

QATIF/MADINA: Two back to back suicide blasts struck mosques in Saudi cities of Qatif and Medina on Monday, killing five people, four of them were security officials.

In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia on Monday, without causing any other injuries, residents told AFP.

"Suicide bomber for sure. I can see the body" torn apart, said a witness to the attack in the Shiite-populated city of Qatif.

Nasima al-Sada, another resident, told AFP that "one bomber blew himself up near the mosque", frequented by Shiites in downtown Qatif, on the Gulf coast.

No bystanders were hurt, she said.

The blast, near the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, was the second suicide bombing Monday in the predominantly Sunni kingdom.



A second suicide blast went off at a parking lot near security headquarters outside Masjid-e-Nabvi in Medina shortly after Iftar, killing at least three people.

According to reports, suicide bomber detonated a device near the security headquarters of the Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, the second-holiest site in Islam.

Two security officers were among the victims.

The bomber detonated his device as the security officers were breaking their day-long fast for Ramadan, Al Arabiya reported.

The blast followed others in Qatif and Jeddah on Monday, the last day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan and start
of the Eid al-Fitra festival.

Shahid Khawar Malik, an eyewitness, said that the blast took place at Gate No 1 of the mosque shortly after Iftar.

Another witness, Syed Azafar Ali Shah, said that all gates of the mosqu