Rare Attack in Oman on Shiite Worshipers Leaves 6 People Dead

Multiple assailants, at least one of them armed, staged a rare attack in the Gulf nation of Oman that targeted worshipers near a mosque, many of them from Pakistan, leaving six people dead on a Shiite Muslim day of mourning, the Omani and Pakistani authorities said Tuesday.

Four Pakistanis were killed and about 30 were injured, the Pakistani foreign ministry said, calling it a “dastardly terrorist attack” and a “heinous crime.” An Indian citizen was also killed, the Indian authorities said, and the Omanis said a policeman also lost his life.

The shooting on Monday night struck near a mosque in the Wadi Kabir neighborhood of the Omani capital, Muscat, the police said in a statement. Three attackers were killed, they said.

The Omani authorities provided details neither about who the attackers were nor what their motives might have been. They did not refer to the incident as a terrorist attack, and did not mention any potential sectarian connections.

Oman’s population includes sizable numbers of Sunni and Ibadi Muslims, while Shiite Muslims are a minority. The shooting fell on Ashura, when Shiite Muslims gather to mourn the seventh century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.

The attackers briefly took some of the worshipers hostage but they were later freed by the police, the Pakistani ambassador to Oman, Imran Ali, said in an interview with The National, a newspaper based in the neighboring United Arab Emirates.

The shooting came as a shock in Oman, a quiet and diverse nation of about five million people located at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Oman has a low crime rate and prides itself on a long track record of religious coexistence in a region where many other countries have struggled with sectarian violence.

The Omani government maintains close relations with the United States and Iran, and often serves as a mediator in regional conflicts. There are communities of Hindus, Buddhists and Christians and a large number of immigrants from around the world, including Pakistan and other South Asian nations.

Such attacks are exceedingly rare in Oman. In 1978, five British campers were killed on an Omani beach. The attackers were deemed robbers by Omani authorities but believed by American intelligence officials to belong to a local revolutionary organization — long since defunct — according to a declassified C.I.A. document.