Soldier killed by Shia ‘terrorist elements’ in Saudi Arabia

A Saudi soldier was killed by gunmen late last night in the Eastern province’s city of Qatif, in an incident the interior ministry said was carried out by “terrorist elements”.

The security patrol came under fire upon approaching a suspicious vehicle, the statement carried by state news agency SPA said, adding that the gunmen fled the area.

Saudi Arabia’s Eastern province is home to much of Saudi Arabia’s oil production as well as the majority of the country’s Shia population, who overall form a small minority in the conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom. Qatif has been the focal point of Shia unrest since protests in early 2011 calling for an end to discrimination, a charge that Saudi Arabia denies.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Extremist Shia militants, many of whom are backed by regional Shia power Iran and who claim to be angry at what they say is repression of their community, have attacked security forces in the Eastern province in the past.

Read: Shia militant killed in gunfight with Saudi forces

The Daesh militant group, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq, has also claimed attacks on Saudi security forces as well as deadly bombings and shootings that target the kingdom’s Shia, attacks the Saudi authorities have condemned whilst also undertaking efforts to prevent Daesh extremists from killing Shia civilians.

Daesh, however, mainly attack Saudi officials, security personnel and civilians in predominantly Sunni areas. This includes the capital Riyadh and also the holy city of Medina, the second most sacred site in Islam, where a Daesh extremist killed a gathering of security personnel who offered to share their food with him before he murdered them.

In the past week, Saudi security forces killed two wanted men in separate incidents in Eastern province, after the authorities were attacked and killed at least one militant in the ensuing gunfight.