Two young men who reportedly stopped an Isis suicide bomber entering a mosque in Saudi Arabia are being hailed as heroes after being killed when he blew himself up.
Eyewitnesses claim the man was disguised as a woman and tried to enter through a closed female entrance before going to the main gate, where the pair were manning a civilian checkpoint.
They saved a lot of lives by stopping the bomber from getting inside the mosque,” a local man, who asked to remain anonymous, told Middle East Eye. “They are both heroes.”
They chased the suicide bomber when he tried to enter the women's section of the mosque in the south entrance,” he added.Abdul-Jalil was reportedly 25 and had recently returned from studying at university in the US, getting married just days ago.
One of the men’s mothers, Kowther al-Arbash, is a high-profile writer for Saudi newspaper al-Jazira, Middle East Eye reported.
Photos of the pair were circulating on social media today, with people calling them heroes and “martyrs”.
Videos also emerged claiming to show the fathers of both men praising their sons' heroism.
A video from inside the al-Anoud mosque showed the moment the explosion was heard outside, with prayers being interrupted by a huge blast that shook the building, causing people to jump to their feet and shout in the ensuing panic.
Saudi religious authorities had asked women them to keep away from mosques during Friday prayers because of fears of a repeat attack and the lack of female security staff able to search them.
The Saudi Press Agency claimed that government “security authorities” were responsible for foiling the terrorist attack.
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