Three Omani brothers behind Shiite mosque attack, police say

The shooting at a Shiite mosque in Wadi Al Kabir, near Oman's capital Muscat, was carried out by Omani citizens, the Royal Oman Police said on Thursday.

“The three perpetrators were all Omanis and were brothers and they died as a result of their insistence on resisting the security officers,” the police said in a statement reported by the sultanate's state news agency.

Ongoing investigations into the brothers found that they were influenced by extremist ideology, according to police.

ISIS claimed the attack, which was unprecedented for the normally stable sultanate and has sparked concern among its neighbours.

Six people were killed – four Pakistanis, an Indian and an Omani police officer – and 28 wounded, police said.

Pakistan’s ambassador to the sultanate said the attackers were misled by an ideology that transcends borders.

“They have no nationality, they are victims of an ideology, they could have been from any country,” Imran Ali, Pakistan’s envoy to Oman, told The National.

“They were misguided and influenced. Nobody goes to the top of a building knowing that he would not be able to escape, they would have to be deeply influenced.”

He called on the community to focus on the acts of “exemplary courage” of the men who lost their lives while trying to help others to safety.

Four Pakistani nationals were among six people killed in the attack on the Imam Ali mosque in a residential neighbourhood of Muscat.

'Extreme sacrifice'

Mr Ali acknowledged the traumatic impact of the shooting but said that the focus should be on the men who tried to help others outside the mosque.

“Amidst all the sorrow and all the talk about terrorists, terrorism and extremism, the bravery that these men displayed should be remembered,” Mr Ali said.

“It was an extreme sacrifice by those who gave their lives.

“One of them was shot while he was bringing water to a dying person, another was trying to save two children and another just wanted to close the gate.

“This was not random, the ones who were shot decided to expose themselves, go out in the open to save the 700 people inside the mosque.

“It is not just an episode of tragedy, there are stories of people who have exhibited exemplary courage leaving a place where they would have been safe to go out and do a good thing.”

Mosque volunteers, some of them teenagers, crouched near cars in the parking lot attempting to pull the injured to safety.

Mr Ali was grateful to the Oman police and law enforcement and said the number of casualties would have been higher without quick action.

“We must thank the Oman security forces because the loss is much less than would have been planned,” he said. “We could have lost many more lives.”

There are 28 Pakistanis injured, still being treated in Muscat hospitals, with three in a critical condition, including a five-year-old child.

The bodies of the four Pakistani nationals are being repatriated to Islamabad and Lahore from Muscat on Thursday.

The embassy said it was providing financial support to families who lost relatives and to those injured.

The ambassador also called on the community to stay strong.

“Let’s try to be brave, kind and helpful to each other,” Mr Ali said.

“We should cooperate with the host country and not give into social media rumours.”

Role of ISIS

The attack on Monday night came as Shiite Muslims commemorated Ashura, marking the death of Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Hussein in the 7th century that gave rise to their sect.

It was the first known operation claimed by ISIS in Oman, which is among the most stable countries in the Middle East.

Followers of ISIS have continued to carry out isolated attacks, even after the extremist group was defeated in the areas of Iraq and Syria it seized and declared its caliphate in 2014. The US-led coalition against ISIS and allied Syrian forces freed the last ISIS stronghold in 2019, marking the territorial defeat of the group.

In the Gulf, ISIS claimed responsibility for attacks on Shiite mosques in Qatif and Dammam in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province that killed 26 people in May 2015, and a suicide bombing at the Shiite Al Sadiq mosque in Kuwait the following month in which 27 died and 227 were wounded.

Antonio Giustozzi, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and a leading expert on ISIS, said it was possible that the group could have established a cell in Oman with the help of returning fighters.

After the collapse of ISIS, most of its non Syrian and Iraqi fighters stood out and so returned home to their original countries, including many central Asians.

“When the Islamic State had its Caliphate people from all over the world travelled there so I imagine there would have been a few from Oman,” he said.

“So you would imagine there would be some Omanis who would go back to Oman and many of these would be willing to set something up.

“And then the role of the organisation would be to set something up and coordinate, especially if there are multiple cells.

“The central Asians in Russia have multiple cells and the cells don’t even know about the others.

“So somebody via encrypted communications has to manage them and also the financing because the authorities in Oman are not going to tolerate fundraising.”

“Has the Islamic State been able to establish a foothold in Oman? It’s not impossible. People could travel abroad and be influenced by Salafism so it’s possible they could create one or two cells.”

He said that while ISIS doesn’t have any physical control it still has the capacity to finance and organise terrorist attacks.

“What they do now is to devolve power and the authority to make decisions to the various bits and pieces of the Islamic State around the world.

“The leadership is saying ‘we set the strategy and give you guidelines but you do the organising’.

“So that’s not to say they don’t have capacity but they rely on sympathisers who decide to raise the flag and carry out an attack and then they claim it.”