Gunmen kill six people and injure dozens more in a Shiite mosque in tranquil Oman

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Several gunmen entered a Shiite mosque in the Gulf state of Oman and opened fire, killing six people and wounding nearly 30 others, authorities said Tuesday, rocking the peaceful sultanate and making it the deadliest such attack in the country’s recent history.

The extremist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in the capital Muscat through an affiliated news agency, but provided no evidence. It was the first time the Sunni extremist group claimed responsibility for an attack in Oman.

The fact that the Islamic State, which considers Shiites to be heretics, targeted Shiite believers on the eve of their holiday is nothing new – The group took over responsibility in January for an attack in predominantly Shiite Iran in which 84 people were killed.

Most shocking, analysts say, is that the attack occurred in Oman, a quiet country in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula with well-trained security forces, a policy of non-interference and a majority population of Ibadis, a more liberal branch of Islam that existed before the Sunni-Shiite split.

“It shows that ISIS is thinking outside the box and trying things that most people think are impossible by exploiting small vulnerabilities in the security architecture of different countries,” said Aaron Y. Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

There is no known branch of the Islamic State in Oman, a country that tends to stay out of the sectarian conflicts that roil the region. But in neighboring, war-torn Yemen, Islamic extremists, including branches of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, have gained a foothold.

The Royal Oman Police said five worshippers at the mosque in Muscat’s Wadi Kabir district and a policeman were killed in the shooting. Omani authorities did not say how many shooters there were or their nationalities, but said security forces had killed three attackers.

At least 28 people were injured in the shooting, Omani police added, including police officers and paramedics. The mosque was packed with worshippers holding special prayers on the eve of the Shiite mourning festival. Ashurawhich commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in the 7th century in Karbala in present-day Iraq.

Pakistan identified four of the dead as its own citizens. Nearly two million migrants, many from Pakistan and other parts of South Asia, are bolstering Oman’s economy by filling low-skilled jobs in construction and other sectors.

Analysts called the rare shooting the latest example of how Islamic State, after losing territory in Iraq and Syria about five years ago, is now seeking to strike at greater distances.

“It is part of their reorganization from a group that carries out most of its actions in Iraq and Syria to a global network that uses its resources,” Zelin said, referring to the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall in March and other bombings claimed by the group’s regional affiliate, the Islamic State of Khorasan, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “That makes them more resilient in some ways.”

The US Embassy in Muscat issued a security alert and urged citizens to “remain vigilant.”

Like other sheikhdoms in the Persian Gulf, Oman continues to tightly control traditional media. State news agencies on Tuesday praised the authorities’ success in containing the chaos, but provided little information on the status of the investigation or the attack itself.

In an interview with the English-language newspaper Times of Oman, an unidentified Pakistani worshipper at the mosque described scenes of fear and chaos and reported that the shooting – both the attack and the subsequent shootout with Omani police – lasted about an hour and a half.

Condolences and expressions of outrage came from across the region in which Oman plays a sensitive role.

The Sultanate maintains friendly relations with both Saudi Arabia, the heartland of traditionalist Sunni Islam, and its regional rival, the Shiite power Iran. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it stood “in solidarity with Oman against such attempts to sow discord.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his “deeply saddened” reaction to the shooting and offered Pakistan’s assistance in the investigation.