The terrorist group ISIL has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shiite mosque in the Gulf Arab state of Oman that killed six people on Monday night.
ISIL said in a statement late Tuesday that three of its “suicide attackers” fired on worshipers at the mosque and exchanged fire with Omani security forces until morning, Reuters reported. The group also released what it said was a video of an attack on the Telegram messaging app.
The incident shocked the country, which escaped the sectarian violence that has engulfed some Middle Eastern states, including some of Oman’s oil-rich neighbors, after ISIS declared a state in Iraq and Syria a decade ago and sought to spread across the Arabian Peninsula.
The Royal Oman Police said on Tuesday that nine people were killed in a shooting in the Wadi al-Kabir neighborhood of the capital Muscat, including three perpetrators and a police officer. More than twenty people of different nationalities were injured, including four Omani officials, the police said.
The attack took place at the Imam Ali Mosque, according to video obtained by Reuters and geolocated by CNN, during Ashura, the 10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram, which has special meaning for Shiite Muslims.
The oil-producing nation is one of the most stable in the Middle East and is becoming an emerging regional tourism destination as the government promotes the sector to diversify its economies away from hydrocarbons.
Unlike other Sunni-ruled Gulf states, Oman follows the Ibadi sect of Islam, but has a substantial Sunni population and a small but influential Shiite minority.
Religious and political leaders often emphasize sectarian harmony and religious tolerance as key to the country’s stability.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that four Pakistanis were among the dead. Another 30 Pakistanis were injured and are currently being treated in hospital, the ministry added. He condemned the incident as a “vile terrorist attack”.
