Saudi Arabia strongly condemns attack on church in Russia’s Chechnya republic

Saudi Arabia has strongly condemned the armed attack on a church in the Russian republic of Chechnya that resulted in the killing of a number of people, an official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

“The source also offered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims and to the Government and the people of the Russian Federation, stressing the Kingdom’s absolute rejection of all forms of violence, extremism and terrorism,” a statement on Saudi Press Agency read.

ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack but the extremist group offered no evidence in support of the claim.

Four people attacked the Orthodox church on Saturday, killing two policemen and a churchgoer, Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement. The attackers were killed.

“Islamic State fighters executed an attack on ‘Michael’ Church yesterday in Chechnya’s capital, Grozny,” Amaq said.

Russia, which hosts the soccer World Cup next month, has fought two wars with separatists in the mainly Muslim internal republic since the 1991 Soviet collapse, but such attacks have become relatively rare in Chechnya.