ISIL followers claim to be behind Riyadh shooting of Danish citizen

RIYADH // Supporters of ISIL have released a video claiming to have carried out a shooting of a Danish national in Saudi Arabia last week, SITE Monitoring reported.

The film could not be independently verified but Saudi Arabia said on November 22 a Dane had been shot in the shoulder as he left his work in Riyadh and was in a stable condition.

ISIL last month called on supporters in Saudi Arabia, which is participating in strikes against the militant group in Syria, to attack Shiite Muslims, government officials and Westerners.

The interior ministry said last month it had identified at least 2,000 Saudis who had gone to fight in Syria and Iraq, but that 600 of them had returned to the kingdom and were in detention or had died.

Authorities have voiced concern that the conflict in Syria and Iraq and the emergence of ISIL could spur domestic attacks.

The last campaign by militants in Saudi Arabia killed hundreds between 2003-2006.

The video, filmed from inside a vehicle driving along a street with signposts showing Riyadh neighbourhoods, shows a handgun being fired through an open window at a white car travelling in the same direction.

It was released by Al Battar Media Foundation and claimed to show an operation by “Supporters of the Islamic State in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques”, SITE reported, referring to the name some Islamists use for Saudi Arabia.

It includes clips of speeches by ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and the group’s spokesman, Abu Mohammed Al Adnani, calling on Saudis “to kill and spit upon” citizens of Western countries involved in fighting the extremist group.

On Sunday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported that a Canadian had been injured in a stabbing by a Saudi in a shopping mall in Eastern Province, but a motive had not been identified.

In November, Sunni militants, who the government said were linked to ISIL, killed eight Shiites in the Eastern Province.

Authorities have since arrested more than 70 people suspected of links to the attack.

A US citizen was shot dead and one injured in a shooting at a petrol station in Riyadh in October. The authorities said a personal motive appeared likely because both men had worked for the same company.

Saudi authorities have said they are investigating the attack on the Dane.

* Reuters