Qatif and Dammam mosque bombings
The Qatif and Dammam mosque bombings occurred on 22 and 29 May 2015. On Friday May 22, a suicide bomber attacked the Shia "Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque" situated in Qudeih village of Qatif city in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria claimed responsibility for the blast, which killed at least 21 people. The event is the second deadly attack against Shia in six months. Background An estimated 14% to 15% of the approximately 16 million natives of Saudi Arabia are Shia Muslims, mostly living in the oil-rich areas of the Eastern Province where Qatif is located. The government of Saudi Arabia follows the strict Sunni Islamic "Wahhabi movement", which dominates religious institutions, courts and education of the kingdom and believes that Shia Muslims are not true Muslims; thus Shia have alleged severe discrimination in Saudi Arabia. According to a 2009 Human Rights Watch report, Shia citizens in Saudi Arabia "face systematic discrimination in religion, education, justice, and employment". The report alleged widespread discrimination against Saudi Shia, including restrictions in the state education system, where Shia students were forbidden from learning about their religion and told they were unbelievers by Sunni teachers. Judges often