DHAKA: Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh branded suicide bombers as ‘criminals’ who will go to ‘hell’.

Al-Hayat daily reported Thursday, says TDS.

Suicide bombings are ‘great crimes’ and bombers are ‘criminals who rush themselves to hell by their actions’, Sheikh said during a lecture in Riyadh a few days ago, according to Al-Hayat.

Sheikh described suicide bombers as ‘robbed of their minds... who have been used (as tools) to destroy themselves and societies’.

In February 2010, Sheikh denounced terrorism as un-Islamic and condemned the killing of civilians, saying such attacks have nothing to do with the Muslim religion.

His latest remarks come after a preliminary inquiry into a December 5 suicide car bombing and assault on a Yemen defence ministry complex found that most assailants were Saudis. Fifty-six people were killed in the attack.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which was formed from a merger of the jihadist network’s Saudi and Yemeni branches, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

BDST: 1818 HRS, DEC 12, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor