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Over the past week, Isis has claimed responsibility for significant attacks in Baghdad, Istanbul and Dhaka, apparently looking beyond its strongholds in northern Iraq and Syria following repeated defeats on the battlefield. The group has urged attacks against the Saudi government on many occasions.

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The Grand Mosque seizure occurred during November and December 1979 when extremist insurgents calling for the overthrow of the House of Saud took over Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The insurgents declared that the Mahdi (the "redeemer of Islam") had arrived in the form of one of their leaders – Mohammed Abdullah al-Qahtani – and called on Muslims to obey him.

The seizure of Islam's holiest site, the taking of hostages from among the worshipers, and the deaths of hundreds of militants, security forces and hostages caught in crossfire in the ensuing battles for control of the site, all shocked the Islamic world. The siege ended two weeks after the takeover began and the mosque was cleared. Following the attack, the Saudi state implemented a stricter enforcement of Islamic code.

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