DUBAI: The three gunmen who shot and killed six people at a mosque in Oman in an attack claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group this week, were all Omani nationals, police said on Thursday.

The Royal Oman Police said the three gunmen were brothers and `were killed due to their insistence on resisting security personnel`. It said that police investigations had indicated the three gunmen were `influenced by misguided ideas`.

The six people killed in the assault at the Ali bin Abi Talib imambargah in the Al Wadi Al Kabir neighbourhood were four Pakistani nationals, an Indian, and a police officerresponding to the attack, which IS later claimed responsibility for.

Dozens of people were wounded with around 30 people treated at local hospitals, including for gunshot wounds.

IS claimed on Tuesday that three of its `suicide attackers` fired on worshippers at the mosque on Monday evening and exchanged gunfire with Omani security forces until morning.

The militant group also published what it said was a video of the attack on its Telegram site. It has claimed responsibility this year for high-profile attacks in Russia and Iran which inflicted mass casualties and is active in Afghanistan. It had not claimed an assault on the Arabian Peninsula for several years until the attack in Oman. IS`s operations have indicated the group is attempting a comeback after it was crushed by a US-led coalition following its occupation of large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and declared a caliphate. It also inspired lone-wolf attacks in the West.

Separately, in a video message, Pakistan`s ambassador in Muscat rebuffed remours circulating on social media about the involvement of Pakistanis in the attack, insisting that those who lost lives were helping and protecting the worshippers during the assault.

Imran Ali also clarified that it was a sectarian attack that did not target Pakistanis, adding that all arrangements have been made to repatriate the bodies of the slain Pakistanis.-Agencies Bodies of martyred Pakistanis A spokesman for PIA said the airline would transport bodies of Pakistanis martyred in the tragic incident in Muscat, Oman.

He said the body of Sulaiman Nawaz had already reached Lahore by PIA flight PK-230 on Thursday while the body of Syed Qaiser Abbas Bukhari will be flown from Muscat to Karachi by flight PK-226. From Karachi it will be flown to Lahore by PK-302.

The spokesman said that bodies of martyred Ghulam Abbas and Hasan Abbas will reach Islamabad by flight PK-292 from Muscat on Friday.

He said that all steps have been taken to hand over bodies of the martyrs to their relatives as soon as possible.