JEDDAH: The Council of Ministers has condemned the recent terror attacks in the American city of Orlando, and others in Beirut and Istanbul, which led to several deaths and injuries.
At a meeting chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Monday, the ministers reiterated the Kingdom’s denunciation of “all forms of violence” and backed efforts to prosecute those responsible.
“The Cabinet reiterated the Kingdom’s rejection of terrorism and support for international efforts to combat terrorism in all its forms,” said Essam bin Saad bin Saeed, acting minister of culture and information, according to the Saudi Press Agency on Tuesday.
The terror attacks came one after the other, beginning with the massacre of 49 people inside a gay bar in Orlando, Florida in the United States on Sunday.
Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire at Pulse Orlando early Sunday in a three-hour shooting rampage and hostage siege. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to the Daesh group, police said.
Daesh radio hailed the attack and called Mateen “one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America.” But it gave no indication the group planned or knew of the attack beforehand.
Counterterrorism experts have been warning in the past few years about the danger of so-called lone wolf attackers who act in sympathy with extremist groups like the Daesh but are not directed by them.
Mateen’s father, Seddique Mir Mateen, told reporters that the massacre was “the act of a terrorist,” and added: “I apologize for what my son did. I am as sad and mad as you guys are.”
He wouldn’t go into details about any religious or political views his son held, saying he didn’t know. Asked whether he missed his son, he said: “I don’t miss anything about him. What he did was against humanity.”
On Sunday night, a huge bomb blast damaged the headquarters of Lebanon’s second biggest bank in Beirut. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
No group claimed responsibility and it was not immediately clear why BLOM was targeted. The bank has closed accounts linked to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, to comply with a recent US law punishing those doing business with the Shiite militant group, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said.
On Monday, a car bomb wounded nine people in the eastern province of Tunceli near a housing block for civil servants working at a local courthouse, security sources said.
Three of the wounded were in critical condition after the blast in the district of Ovacik, the sources said. Television images showed the remains of a vehicle burning on the road and smoke rising from damaged buildings.
Turkey has suffered a series of bombings over recent months; last week a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor’s office.
An offshoot of the PKK claimed responsibility for that attack. The group has for three decades been waging an armed insurgency for autonomy in largely Kurdish southeast, but are increasingly bombing targets outside the region.
Daesh, which controls large parts of neighboring Syria, has also been blamed for suicide bombings, including two in Istanbul this year.
‘Disgraceful’ US massacre denounced
‘Disgraceful’ US massacre denounced
