One Indian national lost his life and another was injured at a shootout at a mosque in Oman late on Monday, the Indian Embassy of Oman said in a post on X.
Muscat Daily reports nine dead, including one officer. BBC reported five deaths. The Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif posted in X that four Pakistanis had died. As many as thirty Pakistanis were injured in the attack, the Pakistani embassy disclosed. That gives you a sense of the scale. I had just come home after work and was settling into my post-work routine when my sister texted me: “There has been a shooting at the Al-Wadi Al-Kabir mosque,” my sister said in a text message.
About The Shooting
Located in Muscat, Oman, Al-Wadi Al-Kabir is home to a large number of Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis. The mosque, the Ali Ibn Abi Talib Mosque, has hosted Muharram processions for the country’s growing Shia population for decades. As a Shia brought up in Oman, visiting this mosque during the first 10 days of Muharram was a must.
To those of us who partook in the annual processions, the mosque exuded both sanctity and a sense of safety. Pairing these traits with the fact that Oman, at least in my memory, is a peaceful country with no record of major gun violence, the news came as a shock. Even more alarming, I learnt that some members of my family were inside the mosque with gunmen stationed on roofs, shooting and shouting slogans.
The chaos made it impossible to get in touch with those inside, but videos from the venue shared with me helped paint a more coherent picture. One video showed police arriving to secure the perimeter to prevent the gunmen from escaping. As red and blue sirens lit up the night sky, gunshots echoed, plastering worry on the faces of people who had escaped, but still had friends and family left inside.
“One shooter was at a roof facing the gate through which women entered the mosque and began firing,” a source told The Free Press Journal.
Actions Taken By The Gunmen
The gunmen cut off the exits with gunfire around 11 pm, shooting a volunteer who stood by the main gate. Once the women grasped the situation, they rushed back inside. Some women were shot in the process and many sustained injuries. As they waited for help after locking themselves inside, bullets rattled against the metal door that stood between them and the shooter.
“He kept shooting at the door,” the source said. Upon hearing the gunshots, the men rushed into the compound to investigate but were fired at by another shooter from a nearby roof.
"I was trying to find a spot to hide and was moving across the compound when the bullet hit me. I fell down and lay there for the next 3-4 hours. I just remember the sounds of gunshots after that,” another source who wished to be anonymous told this reporter.
“I think some people near me were hit too.”
It wasn’t until 3 am when Special Forces found their way into the compound and secured a passageway to extract the people safely. They evacuated people 10 at a time, and provided immediate medical attention to those that needed it. The people were then dropped home. In a statement, the Royal Oman Police said the 3 perpetrators had been dealt with and confirmed the deaths of 5 persons and 1 police official.
.jpg)
.jpg)