Saudi policeman and two Indians wounded in Qatif shooting

A police traffic patrol 'came under heavy fire from a farming area' in Qatif district on Monday evening, a Saudi interior ministry spokesman said.

RIYADH // Two Indians and a Saudi policeman were wounded by gunfire in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, as authorities on Tuesday hunted suspects linked to unrest by minority Shiites, the interior ministry said.

A police traffic patrol “came under heavy fire from a farming area” as the patrol was checking on the security situation in Al Khuwaildiya district in the predominantly Shiite eastern region of Al Qatif on Monday evening, Saudi interior ministry spokesman Maj Gen Mansour Al Turki said.

The Indians were passers-by, he said, adding that they were in stable condition in hospital.

An Indian embassy official confirmed that two nationals were wounded and are in stable condition. “We are following it up,” he said.

The ministry spokesman did not identify who the shooters were, but warned the public not to provide assistance to people on a list of 23 wanted suspects issued in 2011 after Shiite unrest in the region.

Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority, who complain of marginalisation in the Sunni-dominated kingdom, began protests that year in Eastern Province, where most of them live.

Many suspects on the wanted list have already been detained or killed in shootouts.

Over the past year, Saudi Shiites have been targeted by suicide bombings and shootings claimed by ISIL.

In the latest attack, a gunman killed five Shiites in the Qatif area last month during commemorations of Ashura.

* Agence France-Presse, with additional reporting from Associated Press