Saudi security forces killed four suspected Islamic State terrorists Thursday while engaging in an operation near Mecca.
The security forces surrounded the four suspected terrorists in Wadi Noman, an area just south of Mecca, according to Saudi newspaper al-Okaz. Security forces killed two of the fighters, while the remaining men turned their weapons on themselves, committing suicide.
“Security authorities had succeeded in their operation against a number of Daesh partisans holed up at a recreational area in Mecca,” reported al-Ekhbariya, a Saudi state television station. Thursday’s operation was the second involving suspected ISIS terrorists in Saudi Arabia this week. A Sunday operation killed two suspected ISIS terrorists in Bisha province, which borders Yemen.
Mecca is widely considered the holiest city in the Muslim faith. Each year, millions of Muslims from across the world travel to the city to participate in the hajj, a five-day pilgrimage.
Saudi Arabia has been victim to several ISIS attacks since the terrorist group’s rise. Saudi nationals make up one of the largest recruiting bases for the terrorist group, despite Saudi Arabia’s creation of a coalition last December dedicated to fighting terrorism. Many of the terrorist attacks have focused on Saudi Arabia’s Shia Muslim minority, which ISIS sees as religiously heretical, in an apparent attempt to foment sectarian tensions within the country.
ISIS currently has a presence along both the southern and northern borders of Saudi Arabia. In the north, exists the ISIS “parent tumor” in Iraq and Syria. To the south, ISIS has developed a small, limited presence for over a year.
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