19 arrested over three bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia

Saudi officials have arrested 19 people over three bomb attacks carried out in the country on Monday. According to reports, 12 of those arrested were Pakistani, with some of the nationalities of other attackers remaining unclear.

The BBC reports that an interior ministry spokesman has named a suicide bomber whose attack killed four security officers near a mosque in the sacred city of Medina as Naer Muslim Hamad, a 26-year-old Saudi man. The man is believed to have a history of drug abuse.

Three people who allegedly carried out attacks in Qatif were also named as Abdulrahman al-Omar (23), Ibrahim al-Omar (20) and Abdulkarim al-Husni (20), but the ministry said none of them had Saudi IDs.

The attacks in Qatif took place on the same day and were also suicide bombings.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet but they are suspected to have been the work of people with allegiances to so-called Islamic State.

The group has targeted Saudi security personnel before, with some observers pointing out that the guards had been protecting the Sunni-ruled country's Shia, who IS considers irredeemable apostates subject to punishment by death, and facilitating their access to the sacred cities Medina and Mecca.