DHAKA: At least 10 people have been killed and 70 others injured in a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

A physician of emergency room at Qatif Central Hospital told the BBC that some were very critically injured.

Witnesses reported a huge blast at the Imam Ali mosque in the village of al-Qadeeh, in Qatif governorate.

It is the first such incident in Saudi Arabia amid rising tension in the wider region between Sunni and Shia muslims.

There has so far been no claim of responsibility.

Television pictures on Lebanon’s Hezbollah-run al-Manar network showed shattered glass and debris next to the tiled pillars inside the mosque, where scores were said to have been praying.

Bodies covered in sheets could be seen laid out on the floor, while injured people in bloodstained clothes were rushed out on stretchers.

Qatif hospital has issued an urgent call for blood donations and called in off-duty staff to cope with the high number of casualties.

The bomber struck a mosque used by Saudi Arabia’s minority Shia Muslim population.

The attack on Friday comes at a time when the Saudis are leading a coalition of Arab states in an air campaign against Shia rebels in neighbouring Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has also been threatened by Islamic State (IS), which is being targeted by a US-led coalition including the Sunni kingdom.

In November last year an audio recording purported to be from IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on Saudi followers to attack Shia targets.

More than 2,000 Saudis are believed to have joined IS, with hundreds having returned home. Saudi Arabia has launched a security crackdown in recent months, arresting hundreds of IS suspects.

** 30 feared dead in Saudi Arabia suicide bomb attack

BDST: 1834 HRS, MAY 22, 2015
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