The Islamic State (IS) today claimed responsibility for Monday night's shooting that caused the death of nine people, including the three attackers, in Muscat, in the first attack carried out by the 'jihadist' group in this Persian Gulf country.
According to the Amaq agency, an IS propaganda agency, three IS fighters "attacked a gathering of Shiites who were carrying out their annual rituals at a Shiite temple in the Al Wadi al Kabir region of the capital" Muscat, in reference to the day of Ashura, the most important for the branch of Shiism.
According to Amaq, which shows the open-faced image of the three attackers with an IS flag, they "opened fire with machine guns on the Shiites and then clashed with the security forces who arrived at the scene, and the clashes continued until this morning [Tuesday]", without providing further details.
In total, according to this source, the attack left "more than 30 Shiites dead and injured and five members of the Omani forces, including a police officer".
The Oman Police indicated today that the incident - an expression used without using the word terrorism - caused "the death of five people, in addition to a police officer and the three attackers", while another 28 people of different nationalities were injured.
The Pakistani Embassy in Oman identified four dead as its citizens and another 30 are in hospitals in the Persian Gulf country receiving treatment, according to a statement on the social network X.
Videos circulated overnight on social media showed images of police patrols near a mosque in Al Wadi al Kabir amid the sound of gunfire, in an event that shook the country's Pakistani community.
Oman borders Yemen, where an IS affiliate is present and has threatened the Gulf country on previous occasions.
However, Oman is characterized as a peaceful and stable country that has not suffered an attack of this magnitude for more than four decades.
The country's population includes millions of expatriates, mainly from Asian countries.
