The Taliban condemned a suicide attack inside Saudi Arabia that targeted security personnel in the city of Medina that killed four Saudi guards and wounded five more as “an act of enmity and hatred towards Islamic rituals.” The Taliban condemnation is not surprising as it has relied on Saudi Arabia as a source for fundraising and other support to fuel the Afghan insurgency. Additionally, the attack was likely executed by the Islamic State, the Taliban’s only rival in Afghanistan.
Yesterday’s attack in Medina was one of three bombings that took place inside Saudi Arabia. Jihadists also targeted the US Consulate in Jeddah and a mosque in the eastern city of Qatif. Two security guards were wounded in the two attacks Jeddah and Qatif. The Saudi Interior Ministry identified the Jeddah suicide bomber as a Pakistani known as Abdullah Qalzar Khan.
“It is with great sadness to have learnt that an attack has taken place against the guards of the Prophet’s Mosque in the holy city of Medina, causing multiple casualties,” the Taliban says today in an official statement released on its website, Voice of Jihad. “The Islamic Emirate [Taliban] – which has been shocked by this gruesome act – condemns this incident in the strongest of terms and considers it an act of enmity and hatred towards Islamic rituals. Such acts in al Haram al Nabawi [the Medina mosque] can never be tolerable.”
“Al Haramain al Sharifain (The Two Holy Sanctuaries [in Mecca and Medina]) holds a collective value for every Muslim and no act of hostility towards it can ever be acceptable or tolerated,” the statement continues. “This crime has shown us just how cruel and full of hatred the plots of our enemies are towards our religious sanctums.”
The Taliban did not name its “enemies,” but it may be referring to the Islamic State, which is thought to have executed the attacks in Saudi Arabia. No group has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia. The Taliban has denounced the Islamic State in the past for sowing divisions within jihads in Afghanistan as well as throughout the global jihad.
The statement did not mention or condemn the two suicide attacks against the US Consulate in Jeddah and a mosque in the eastern city of Qatif.
The Taliban likely has another reason for condemning the attack in Medina. Saudi Arabia is used by Taliban leaders and financiers to raise and collect funds to support its jihad in Afghanistan.
US designations of Taliban and Haqqani Network leaders over the past decade notes that many often travel to the Kingdom for fundraising purposes, often on behalf of al Qaeda. The Haqqani Network is a Taliban subgroup; its operational leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is the deputy emir of the Taliban.
Taliban luminaries and notables who have traveled to Saudi Arabia to fundraise include Nasiruddin Haqqani, Torek Agha, Saidullah Jan, Amir Abdullah, Yahya Haqqani, Khalil Haqqani, and Fazl Rabi.
from Long War Journal – The Long War Journal http://ift.tt/29mQQcb
via Defense News
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