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4 July 2016 Medina bombing

The site of the suicide bombing in Medina

The 4 July 2016 Saudi Arabia attacks were a string of Islamic State suicide bombings that occurred at various places in Saudi Arabia on 4 July 2016. The attacks targeted Muhammad's resting place of al-Masjid an-Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque), a Shia mosque in Qatif, the United States consulate in Jeddah, and a shopping mall in Qatif. The al-Masjid an-Nabawi attack left at least 4 dead, while the consulate attack injured two policemen as they tried to arrest the bomber Abdullah Gulzar Khan (the bomber detonated only his explosives, while his explosive-laden vehicle was untouched); the Qatif mosque attack had no casualties apart from the bomber due to the inability of the attacker to enter the mosque, and the Qatif shopping mall attack also failed, as only the bomber was killed. Reportedly, the al-Masjid an-Nabawi bomber was an eighteen-year-old who offered food to security officers during the breakfast hours of Ramadan, and he blew himself up instead; the al-Masjid an-Nabawi attack targeted a security checkpoint, killing four security guards.

The coordinated Saudi Arabia attacks were the fourth IS attacks within a week, coming after the 2016 Istanbul Ataturk Airport attack, the 2016 Gulshan attack, and the July 2016 Baghdad bombings. They also worried the international community, as the attacks showed coordination between the bombings, and the bombing of the US consulate was one of the first attack on western interests in Saudi Arabia by IS. On 7 July 2016, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan's Umar Media media wing condemned the attack on the Prophet's Mosque.

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