Four dead in rare shooting near mosque in Oman’s capital

Four people were killed and several others injured in a shooting near a mosque in Oman’s capital Muscat, a rare outbreak of violence in the Middle Eastern sultanate.

The shooting occurred near a mosque in the al-Wadi al-Kabir district in the east of the city, the Royal Oman Police said in a post on X in the early hours of Tuesday local time.

Police said, citing preliminary information from an investigation into the incident, that at least four people had died and “several others” had been injured.

Investigators provided limited details about the incident and did not specify any suspects or a possible motive. Police did not say whether anyone was arrested.

They said “all security measures” had been taken to respond to the situation and investigations were ongoing.

Shortly after the incident, the U.S. Embassy in Oman issued a warning to all Americans to stay away from the area.

It said U.S. citizens in the region should be aware of their surroundings, lock their doors, monitor local news and report suspicious activity to local police.

All visa appointments would be cancelled for the day, it said, citing security precautions following the shooting, but added that they were expected to resume on Wednesday.

The US State Department has issued a Level 2 travel advisory, urging increased caution when traveling to Oman “due to terrorism and armed conflict.” In particular, US citizens are warned against traveling to the area near the border with Yemen, the region’s poorest country, which has been ravaged by civil war since August 2014.

Such acts of violence are rare in Oman, which lies on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula.

According to data published by the World Health Organization, the country’s murder rate remained constant at 0.7 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010, 2015 and 2019, compared to 5.8 per 100,000 in 2019 in the United States, up from 5.7 in 2016 and 5.5 in 2010.