Survivors of the Oman mosque attack have told of the moment gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons as they shouted: “You non-believers, this is your end.”
Worshippers thought the pops and cracks were firecrackers as they gathered at Imam Ali Mosque to mark an occasion sacred to Shiite Muslims, until bodies began falling to the ground.
“We fell to the ground … bullets hit the wall and road all around us,” Shaandar Bukhari, a mosque volunteer from Attock, Pakistan, told The National.
“The sniper was chanting loudly as he shot at us. It was in pure Arabic – not someone who would have learnt Arabic – and he shouted: “You non-believers, this is your end.'”
We pushed people inside and shut the doors so they could not enter. We tried to keep people calm but there was so much fear
Syed Hassan,
worshipper
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday night, which left nine people dead, including three gunmen, and dozens injured.
It broadcast a video showing three men holding the black ISIS flag before the attack in Wadi Al Kabir, a town outside Muscat. One can be seen holding an Austrian-made Steyr assault rifle. Their identities are not yet known.
The gunmen left dozens wounded and went on to trade fire with Omani police and troops until they were gunned down. The siege began at 10.15pm and lasted for more than 10 hours, ending on Tuesday.
Worshippers were shepherded out in batches from 11.30pm on Monday until 5am on Tuesday.
Omani authorities have released few details about the incident. It is not clear how the gunmen sourced weapons in a country with low gun ownership. ISIS has previously claimed responsibility for atrocities it had no direct hand in.
Streets in Wadi Al Kabir remained blocked off as the investigation continued on Wednesday.
The Omani government said it was ready to "confront any challenges" to its national security, in the wake of the shooting and the capsizing of an oil tanker off the coast of Oman.
“Our dear land witnessed an exceptional day when it was exposed to two unprecedented security incidents, and our security services responded to them with great efficiency, demonstrating to the entire world their readiness and ability to confront any challenges that arise,” the government said in a statement.
The statement said investigations are ongoing to determine the motive behind the incidents.
'Terrorist attack'
Worshippers said the gunmen were standing on the roof of an adjacent building and used the floodlights there to view targets in the courtyard below.
Mr Bukhari, 42, who heads a team of mosque volunteers and works for an advertising firm in Muscat, said he could not forget the violent images.
He crawled to the car park near the women’s section to carry two crying children to safety, but their father died in his arms.
“I saw a man in a white T-shirt holding an automatic rifle. He was looking away from me and then I got a chill down my spine when I saw two kids taking shelter between a car and the wall of the mosque,” Mr Bukhari told The National from the hospital where he is being treated after bullets grazed his arms.
“They were sitting on the body of their father and crying, ‘We will not leave our baba.’
“I picked them up and literally threw them into the mosque. Their father was badly wounded. [He] did not think he would make it and kept asking us to save his children.
“With another volunteer, we lifted him to take him in but he was shot in a burst of bullets, he died in our arms.”
Mr Bukhari spoke of the horror of hiding under bodies to escape the barrage of bullets.
“People were shot in the back and legs in front of my eyes as we crawled to the gate,” he said.
“I was lying under a body with two bodies near me. There was loud, constant firing.”
Like others, Mr Bukhari called the authorities by phone.
“We called to ask people to save us, we said there is a terrorist attack on our mosque,” he said.
“These men were barbaric, inhuman. If the Oman police had not come quickly, many more would have died.”
Raining bullets
Mr Bukhari said he spotted at least four gunmen on the roofs of buildings overlooking the mosque during the “relentless” attack.
A small alley between the men's and women’s section of the mosque was also attacked by the gunmen.
“They were firing on us from behind floodlights so we could not see them but they could see us clearly,” Mr Bukhari said.
“When people fell down, they were still firing at the bodies as if to make sure they wouldn’t survive.
“Then I heard bursts of fire that were definitely automatic machinegun bursts.
“It was raining bullets around me and people were falling near me.
“We began pushing people into the mosque.
“But the bullets started hitting the gate, the bullets were so strong, it pierced the gate, the walls.”
'Escaping death'
In the men’s section of the mosque, Syed Hassan, a businessman from Lahore, appealed to worshippers to stay calm.
“We tried to keep people calm but there was so much fear because there was so much shooting,” said Mr Hassan.
He and his teenage son narrowly escaped as they ran for shelter.
“We pushed people inside and shut the doors so they could not enter,” he said.
“This saved lives. But when we were running, my son was hit by a bullet in his right thigh. A bullet went right by my neck and into the door.”
Mr Hassan quickly turned off the lights in the women’s section so the gunmen would not have a clear sight inside.
While tending to his son and others injured, Mr Hassan said he worried about his wife and three children in the women’s section.
He managed to contact the women's section to pass on a message from the police to remain inside.
He and other volunteers have been monitoring the crowds at the mosque for more than a decade.
“If we had not pulled people inside and they were still standing on the road, there would have been a lot more casualties,” he said.
“If not for the local authorities and police many more would have died.”
Additional reporting by Khaled Moussa in Muscat.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
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Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
The five pillars of Islam
The five pillars of Islam
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
