Egypt condemns attempt targeting Grand Mosque in Mecca

CAIRO – 24 June 2017: Egypt condemned the attempt to target the Grand Mosque, or the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, in an official statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saturday. The attempt resulted in injuring 11 victims after a terrorist blew himself up.

“Six expatriates were injured and taken to a hospital, and five security personnel received minor injuries,” a Saudi Press official in London told CNN on Friday.

The statement expressed Egypt’s government and people’ solidarity with the government and people of Saudi Arabia in the face of any attempt that threatens its security and stability, praising the Saudi Arabian security efforts in this respect and wishing the injured victims speedy recovery.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement also noted that “the attempt to target the holy place, during those blessed days of the holy month of Ramadan, reflects the deviation of those terrorist groups from the moderate teachings of Islam, and called on the international community to join forces to combat and uproot terrorism by draining the sources of its funding.”

The Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry described the plot as part of “self-serving schemes managed from abroad,” reported the Guardian website.

The ministry didn't announce the name of the terrorist group involved in the attack.

It said in a nearby neighbor, where the security forces surrounded a home in which a man was hiding, the suspect blew himself after refusing to comply with the demands to surrender, opened fire on security forces then killed himself, the Saudi Arabian ministry said.

The explosion caused the partial collapse of the building in which he was hiding at.

Considered the largest mosque in the world, the Grand Mosque, or the Masjid al-Haram is surrounded by several Islam’s holiest site, such as the Kaaba, a place where worshipers visit during Hajj, which is the annual pilgrimage that brings millions of Muslims from all over the world to Mecca.