Shia Mosque Bombed in Saudi Arabia

Several people were killed Friday morning when a suicide bomber attacked a Shiite mosque in Saudi Arabia.

The explosion came during Friday morning prayers at the Imam Ali mosque in Qatif on the Gulf coast. Saudi Arabia’s minority Shia population is mostly based in two oasis districts of the eastern province, Qatif being one of them.

Some analysts call the explosion in the heartland of Shia territory an unprecedented attack within Saudi Arabia and believe this could provoke retaliatory strikes in nearby Bahrain where there is a Shia population majority.

Analysts are also worried this could open up yet another theater for the sectarian war raging across the Middle East.