| S.Arabia shootout leaves two dead |
RIYADH A Saudi soldier was shot dead patrolling an area populated by minorities late on Friday, the Interior Ministry said, and one of the gunmen was killed in the ensuing shoot-out.
The deaths bring to 11 the number of people killed in the Qatif area since November in protests by members of the minority community over what they see as entrenched discrimination.
“A security patrol was exposed to heavy fire from four armed rioters on motorbikes when pausing at a street intersection in Qatif,” state news agency SPA reported, quoting Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Turki.
Turki said the gunmen had been arrested after an exchange of fire in which one of them was killed, and said another man suffering a bullet injury had been arrested at the hospital.
He added that the incident, which happened at 11pm on Friday, had led to the death of one soldier, named as Hussein Bawah Ali Zabani, and the wounding of another, named as Saad Miteb Mohammed Al Shammari, whom he said was taken to hospital.
Protests broke out in Qatif last year when Saudi troops were invited by the government of neighbouring Bahrain to help its royal family quash a popular uprising.
Last month a new round of protests ended with three deaths after police arrested and injured a firebrand cleric Nimr Al Nimr, who had preached sermons urging demonstrations against the government.
Ten of the 11 people who have died in Qatif demonstrations since late last year were young men.
Reuters
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