Saudi policeman killed, 6 injured in rocket attack in restive Shia province

Saudi policeman killed, 6 injured in rocket attack in restive Shia province
A Saudi policeman was killed and six other officers wounded following a rocket attack on Shia-majority province of Qatif, the kingdom's interior ministry said.
1 min read
31 July, 2017
The Shia-majority eastern area of Qatif has been rocked by unrest since 2011 [AFP]
A Saudi policeman was killed and six others wounded on Sunday in a rocket attack in the restive Shia-majority eastern district of Qatif, the Interior Ministry said.

The area has been rocked by unrest since 2011, when Shia protests erupted to demand equality in the Sunni-dominated Gulf kingdom.

Sunday's incident saw a police patrol come under a "terrorist attack with a rocket" in al-Masoura neighbourhood in Qatif, the ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

It said the six wounded officers were hospitalised and in a stable condition.

Videos posted on Twitter over the weekend show Saudi government troops shooting from rooftops. 

@QatifRev tweeted that people in the village of Awamia were being shot at randomly.

Another, @AngryQatifi, tweeted a video apparently showing a Saudi soldier "bragging while videotaping other troops shooting RPG grenades and bullets from #Awamia High School's roof".

Qatif has seen a string of assaults on security forces in recent weeks.

Police shot three men wanted for "terrorist" attacks earlier this month, the ministry said then.

Most of Saudi Arabia's Shia residents live in the oil-rich east, where they have long complained of marginalisation.

Authorities have blamed the violence on "terrorists" and drug traffickers.