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Riyadh: Petrol bombs were thrown during the night by unknown attackers at a parking lot of a Saudi Arabian court in the kingdoms unrest-hit Shiite-populated east, an official and witnesses said on Sunday.
They said the bombs were thrown in the parking lot outside the compound of the court in Qatif district, setting the plastic shades that covered the area on fire.
The shades of the parking lot outside the court caught fire, said a civil defence official in Eastern Province as videos posted on social networking websites showed the blaze.
Attacks on Saudi government facilities in Qatif have increased after the deaths of two Shiite protesters during clashes with the police there last week.
On Friday, the interior ministry announced that a gunman was killed during an attack on a police station and four Saudi policemen were wounded in a separate assault on their patrols in the same region.
Qatif witnessed several protests triggered in February 2011 after an outbreak of violence between Shiite pilgrims and religious police in the holy city of Madina.
The sporadic protests escalated after the kingdom led a force of Gulf troops into neighbouring Bahrain to help crush a month-long Shiite-led uprising last year against that countrys Sunni monarchy.
Last week, tensions intensified after authorities arrested prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr, described by the kingdom as an instigator of sedition.
Saudi Arabias estimated two million Shiites, who frequently complain of marginalisation, live mostly in the east, where the vast majority of the Opec majors huge oil reserves lie.
Some 37 Shiite clerics released a joint statement on Friday in which they urged youths to steer away from violence and not to respond to some who try to provoke you and lure you to violence to mark your movement as terrorist.
In May, Amnesty International said seven people had been killed and a number of others injured in clashes between the authorities and protesters in the Shiite-populated region since November.
Saudi security forces kill oil province attacker
Riyadh: Saudi security forces shot and killed a man who was among a group that opened fire and hurled a fire-bomb at a police station in the oil-rich Eastern province, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said on Saturday.
The agency also quoted an Interior Ministry spokesman as saying that four members of the security forces were wounded in a separate attack by masked gunmen on motor-bikes who fired at two patrols in the village of Sehat, also in Eastern Province, early on Saturday.
Two men were killed on Sunday in Eastern Province, where most of the countrys Shiite minority lives, during protests after the arrest of a prominent Shiite cleric. The Interior Ministry blamed the killings on criminals but Shiite activists said snipers shot them.
The SPA quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Al Turki as saying the attack on the police station in Awamiya took place at around 9:30pm on Friday. One of the four attackers hurled a Molotov cocktail at the station while the three others opened fire, he said.
The security at the position dealt with them in accordance with what the situation requires, which resulted in one being killed while the others fled, SPA quoted Turki as saying.
The agency said the second attack occurred at around 1am on Saturday, but gave no information on the wounded mens injuries.
The Shiite Rasid website www.rasid.com identified the dead man as 18-year-old Abdullah Jaafr Al Ajami and said local social media websites had published pictures of him covered in blood.
It also quoted residents as casting doubt on the police spokesmans report that Ajami was killed while attacking a police station, saying the compound was well protected with concrete barriers and fences.
They said the bombs were thrown in the parking lot outside the compound of the court in Qatif district, setting the plastic shades that covered the area on fire.
The shades of the parking lot outside the court caught fire, said a civil defence official in Eastern Province as videos posted on social networking websites showed the blaze.
Attacks on Saudi government facilities in Qatif have increased after the deaths of two Shiite protesters during clashes with the police there last week.
On Friday, the interior ministry announced that a gunman was killed during an attack on a police station and four Saudi policemen were wounded in a separate assault on their patrols in the same region.
Qatif witnessed several protests triggered in February 2011 after an outbreak of violence between Shiite pilgrims and religious police in the holy city of Madina.
The sporadic protests escalated after the kingdom led a force of Gulf troops into neighbouring Bahrain to help crush a month-long Shiite-led uprising last year against that countrys Sunni monarchy.
Last week, tensions intensified after authorities arrested prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr, described by the kingdom as an instigator of sedition.
Saudi Arabias estimated two million Shiites, who frequently complain of marginalisation, live mostly in the east, where the vast majority of the Opec majors huge oil reserves lie.
Some 37 Shiite clerics released a joint statement on Friday in which they urged youths to steer away from violence and not to respond to some who try to provoke you and lure you to violence to mark your movement as terrorist.
In May, Amnesty International said seven people had been killed and a number of others injured in clashes between the authorities and protesters in the Shiite-populated region since November.
Saudi security forces kill oil province attacker
Riyadh: Saudi security forces shot and killed a man who was among a group that opened fire and hurled a fire-bomb at a police station in the oil-rich Eastern province, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said on Saturday.
The agency also quoted an Interior Ministry spokesman as saying that four members of the security forces were wounded in a separate attack by masked gunmen on motor-bikes who fired at two patrols in the village of Sehat, also in Eastern Province, early on Saturday.
Two men were killed on Sunday in Eastern Province, where most of the countrys Shiite minority lives, during protests after the arrest of a prominent Shiite cleric. The Interior Ministry blamed the killings on criminals but Shiite activists said snipers shot them.
The SPA quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Al Turki as saying the attack on the police station in Awamiya took place at around 9:30pm on Friday. One of the four attackers hurled a Molotov cocktail at the station while the three others opened fire, he said.
The security at the position dealt with them in accordance with what the situation requires, which resulted in one being killed while the others fled, SPA quoted Turki as saying.
The agency said the second attack occurred at around 1am on Saturday, but gave no information on the wounded mens injuries.
The Shiite Rasid website www.rasid.com identified the dead man as 18-year-old Abdullah Jaafr Al Ajami and said local social media websites had published pictures of him covered in blood.
It also quoted residents as casting doubt on the police spokesmans report that Ajami was killed while attacking a police station, saying the compound was well protected with concrete barriers and fences.
