5 Daesh members sentenced to death for assassinating officer, blowing up mosques in Saudi Arabia

A preliminary death sentence was issued on Thursday against five members of a cell affiliated with the terrorist group Daesh. (File/Al-Ekhbariya)

• The trial of the cell’s members, who numbered 45 in total, began after other members were killed in armed confrontations with security forces
• After extensive investigations, the accused were found to be linked to terrorist operations in the Kingdom

JEDDAH: A preliminary death sentence was issued on Thursday against five members of a cell affiliated with the terrorist group Daesh.
The trial of the cell’s members, who numbered 45 in total, began after other members were killed in armed confrontations with security forces.
After extensive investigations, the accused were found to be linked to terrorist operations in the Kingdom, including the assassination of Brig. Gen. Kitab Al-Otaibi, investigations director of the Al-Quwaiiyah governorate, west of Riyadh in April 2016.
The brigadier-general was followed on his way to into work and shot dead when he reached Al-Arja police station in Al-Dawadimi province. Daesh later claimed responsibly for the attack.
The accused were also involved in the bombing of three mosques; the first targeted the Special Emergency Forces mosque in Abha in Aug. 2015 and resulted in the killing of 15 people including 11 security forces members and four Bangladeshi workers.
The second attack targeted the second largest mosque for the Ismaili community in the region, Najran’s Al-Mashhad mosque, in Oct. 2015, resulting in the killing of two people and injuring 27 others.
The third attack was on Al-Ridha Mosque in Al-Ahsa in Jan. 2016, for its alleged links to the Shiite community. The bombing killed five people and injured 36 others, including three members of the security forces.