As my first investigation, I probably should’ve had lower expectations. But I’ve seen the kind of magic that OSINT researchers can do so I was excited to try it for myself. Unfortunately, I was not able to glean much additional information compared to mainstream sources. I figured I might as well publish my findings. I am just getting started, after all.

Date: Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th July 2024

Location: Imam Ali Mosque, Wadi Kabir, Oman

Death toll: 9 including the attackers (source)

CIA Factbook claims that the Muslim population is made up of 45% Sunnis, 45% Ibadis and 5% Shia. The attack occured during the eve of Ashura. For Shia Muslims it’s an annual day of mourning that commemorates the seventh-century death in battle of Imam Husayn, regarded by Shia Muslims as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammed.

A source on the ground claims that the perpetrators were:

• Sultan Al-Omani

• Mohammad Al-Hassani

• Hamad Al-Hassani

The source was also able to find out their places of work. All were killed by security forces (source).

All were Omani citizens and they were brothers (source). Sultan used the “Al-Omani” for his public facing persona, but I assume his legal name is also Al-Hassani. This is a common practice as Omanis, like a lot of Arabs, tend to value their privacy.

I won’t be posting the photo that DAESH released out of respect to their families. I was only able to find photos of Sultan as he was a singer. Searching FB and Twitter for the other two turned up nothing, their names are pretty common and as mentioned Omanis are pretty private. Searching the internet with queries about their places of work, looking for any past press releases also turned up nothing.

Comparing the DAESH photo to other photos of Sultan does indicate that they are the same person. Very clean-shaven and no head hair and similar features.

Two videos from the incident were geolocated by Qais Alamdar (thank you for your hard work). One video took place on the mosque’s grounds. The one shot by the perpetrators was taken on a building a little distance away.

I was unable to acertain a timeline of events.

Videos taken at the time all occured in the dark. Sunset on that day was 18:55 and sunrise the day after was 05:27am (source), so the prayer that they gathered for must have been either Isha or Fajr (source). Reports say that it occured Monday evening, so I am assuming that it was during Isha prayers (source).

There is enough evidence to say that perpetrators opened fire from a building near the mosque. However this report from Associated Press states that they entered the mosque itself. I am unable to find confirmation of this elsewhere. Sources living in Wadi Kabir said the military was deployed and gun fire still going on as of 12 pm the following day. Special forces began clearing out slowly from the area around 13:00 hours.

The Pakistani ambassador to Oman, Imran Ali, claimed that the mosque was mainly frequented by South Asian expatriets (source). From my own experiences in the country, I know there are significant nativist sentiments among the Omani population. This is definitely not unique to Oman but as we know from anti-immigrant movements around the world, this is an ideal breeding ground for fascism.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my first investigation! I hope there will be more to come.

~ Ajali