2016 Saudi Arabia bombings

On 4 July 2016, four suicide bombs detonated at three separate locations in Saudi Arabia. The most significant attack occurred in the parking lots of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque) in Medina, one of Islam's holiest sites, killing at least four security officers and injuring five others. It was the first suicide bombing to take place in Medina. A second and third bomber targeted a Shia mosque near the Mias market in Qatif but did not harm anyone other than themselves. A fourth attacker detonated his explosives after police attempted to arrest him near the U.S. consulate in Jeddah; two Saudi police officers were injured in that incident.

According to a statement from the Saudi Press Agency, security personnel became suspicious of a man approaching the Prophet's Mosque through a vacant parking lot before Maghrib prayers; when intercepted, he detonated an explosive belt, killing himself and four security men and injuring five others. The same evening, a suicide bombing occurred at a mosque near the Mias market in Qatif, where human remains believed to belong to three people were recovered and were being identified.

The attacks followed a pattern of Ramadan 2016 mass-casualty attacks attributed to suspected Islamic State–affiliated militants, including earlier attacks in Istanbul, Dhaka, and Baghdad in the preceding days. Saudi Arabia had also experienced a series of ISIL-claimed attacks in 2015, including mosque bombings in Qatif and Dammam and an attack in Abha.

No group claimed responsibility for the 4 July 2016 attacks, though the Islamic State was initially suspected. Saudi Arabia's interior ministry stated that a man named Abdullah Gulzar Khan carried out the bombing near the U.S. consulate in Jeddah; he had reportedly lived in Jeddah for 12 years working as an immigrant driver, along with his family. A 26-year-old Saudi man, Naer Moslem Hammad Al Balawi, described as having a "history of drug use," was identified as the perpetrator of the Medina attack. Saudi authorities separately said Taie bin Salem bin Yaslam al-Saya'ari, a Saudi citizen who had lived and studied in New Zealand between 2008 and 2013, is thought to have planned the Medina attack; he was killed by Saudi security forces in January 2017. Following the attacks, Saudi authorities arrested 19 people, including 12 Saudi nationals.

The attempted attack on the Prophet's Mosque, coming just before Eid al-Fitr, drew widespread condemnation from Sunni and Shia religious leaders and governments, including Egypt, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia, as well as from other groups such as Hezbollah and the Taliban. Commentators characterized the attack on the non-denominational site, predating the Sunni-Shia schism, as an attack against all Muslims. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, headquartered in Saudi Arabia, said the attacks represented an attempt to destabilize the kingdom.