IS claims responsibility for car explosion outside Saudi mosque

DAMMAM , Saudi Arabia, May 29 (UPI) -- An explosion outside a Shiite mosque in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, killed four people Friday, the second attack in a week in the Sunni-majority kingdom.

In a Twitter message, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, referring to the Shiite mosque as a "Polytheistic monument" and identifying the bomber as Abu Jned al Zazwari.

A suicide bomber detonated explosives at the Imam Hussein mosque in Dammam, a city of about one million on the Persian Gulf in eastern Saudi Arabia. It followed a similar bombing, for which the Islamic State also claimed responsibility, in the city of Qatif last week in which 21 people died.

The Saudi Interior Ministry said the explosion in Dammam occurred after security forces attempted to stop a vehicle near the mosque, but a source told CNN the explosives were set off inside the mosque by a male visitor dressed in traditional women's clothes as a deception; after he was challenged by Shiites attempting to search him, he detonated the explosives he carried, killing himself and three worshippers.

The incident occurred in the city's Shiite neighborhood, one of the few Shiite population centers in Saudi Arabia.