Bahraini forces severely attack with tear gas on solidarity rally for Saudi mosque attack victims

Bahraini police Sunday fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Manama's western districts, populated by the Shiites, who took to the streets in solidarity with the victims of the terrorist attack on a mosque in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.

A suicide bomber detonated explosives during prayers at a Shia mosque in the village of Qadeeh, Qatif governorate, killing 21 people and injuring more than 100 on Friday. Saudi branch of the Islamic State (ISIL) militant group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.

Demonstrators held banners reading "We are all Qadeeh" by analogy with the slogan used around the world to show solidarity with the victims of the attack carried out in January on the Paris office of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, known for its cartoons lampooning Islam.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia's interior ministry said it had identified the suicide bomber who carried out any attack on a Shia mosque as a Saudi national linked to Islamic State (ISIL) radicals.

Immediately after the explosion, Qadeeh’s residents organized a spontaneous protest, blaming the Saudi authorities for the failure to ensure the security in the Saudi Eastern Province, populated by the country’s Shiite minority.

The Qatif governorate of the oil-rich Eastern Province was a center of protests against Shia minority’s discrimination in 2011.