A policeman was shot dead by masked gunmen in the Qatif district in Saudi Arabia’s oil-producing Eastern Province on Wednesday, state news agency SPA said, the latest in a string of attacks there this year.
Four assailants opened fire on a police station before dawn, SPA reported.
Qatif, which is both a city and the name of a district, is home to many Shi’ite Muslims, who form a minority in the Sunni Muslim kingdom.
Qatif was one of three Saudi cities targeted in coordinated bomb attacks on July 4. A suicide bomber struck near a Shi’ite mosque killing himself and two others.
The Saudi government said Islamic State (ISIS) was likely behind the attacks. ISIS consider Shi’ites apostates who should be killed.
