MUSCAT, OMAN: Four people were killed and multiple others wounded in a shooting near a Shiite mosque in Oman’s capital Muscat, police said Tuesday.
The shooting is a rare occurence in the otherwise stable sultanate, which has a Muslim-majority population, including a small minority of Shiites.
“The Royal Oman Police have responded to a shooting incident that occurred in the vicinity of a mosque in the Al-Wadi Al-Kabir area,” police said in a statement.
The force gave an initial toll of four killed and “several others” wounded at the mosque in eastern Muscat.
There were Pakistanis are among the wounded, but the numbers have yet to be confirmed, according to Islamabad’s embassy in Oman.
Pakistan’s ambassador to Oman, Imran Ali, visited some of the wounded in the hospital, the embassy posted on social media platform X.
In a video message posted on X, he urged Pakistanis in Oman to cooperate with local authorities and avoid the area where the shooting occurred.
The US embassy in Muscat issued a security alert following the shooting and canceled all visa appointments Tuesday.
“US citizens should remain vigilant, monitor local news and heed directions of local authorities,” the embassy wrote on social media platform X.
Footage verified by AFP shows people fleeing near Imam Ali Mosque, its minaret visible, as gunshots ring out.
A voice can be heard saying “oh God” and repeating “oh Hussein,” referring to the imam who Shiites view as the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad.
بيان حول حادثة إطلاق نار في منطقة الوادي الكبير..#شرطة_عمان_السلطانية pic.twitter.com/7MSURU3LLQ
— شرطة عُمان السلطانية (@RoyalOmanPolice) July 16, 2024
Shiites this week mark Ashura, an annual day of mourning that commemorates the seventh-century battlefield martyrdom of Imam Hussein.
Police said “all necessary security measures and procedures have been taken to handle the situation” following the attack.
“The authorities are continuing to gather evidence and conduct investigations to uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident,” police added on X.
The area was still cordoned off later on Tuesday, with journalists unable to access the mosque, according to an AFP photographer there.
Oman has a population of over four million people, more than 40 percent of whom are expatriate workers, according to government statistics.
The sultanate has regularly played the role of a mediator in regional conflicts, especially the conflict in Yemen between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the internationally-recognized government propped up by Saudi Arabia.
While several mosque attacks have roiled the Arab Gulf region in recent years, the incident on Tuesday is unprecedented for Oman.
A 2015 suicide attack on a Shiite mosque in Kuwait killed at least 27 worshippers and wounded more than 200 others. It was claimed by the Daesh group.
That same year, Saudi Arabia saw two attacks on Shiite mosques in the span of one week. The two operations in May killed at least 25 people and were claimed by the IS group, which views Shiites as heretics.
In 2005, a former teacher opened fire inside a government building in Oman’s capital, killing two people and wounding several others, before he shot himself, state media said at the time.