Saudi soldier killed by rocket-propelled grenade in eastern Qatif district

It comes four days after gunmen killed a Saudi child and a Pakistani builder in the same area of Al Awamiya town.

A Saudi soldier was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade on Tuesday while fighting suspected militants in the kingdom’s eastern Qatif district, the interior ministry said.

It came four days after gunmen killed a Saudi child and a Pakistani builder in the same area of Al Awamiya town.

Five other Saudi soldiers were killed in Tuesday’s fighting in the old neighbourhood of Almosara and operations to counter the attackers were continuing with the help of backup forces, the interior ministry said.

In the incident on Friday last week, authorities said the victims were killed during an attack on construction workers at the site of an urban renewal project in Almosara. The interior ministry said criminals engaged in the drug and arms trade tried “to jeopardise the project and protect their terrorist activities that they launch from the abandoned houses in the neighbourhood”.

In Tuesday’s violence, meanwhile, the ministry said “terrorist elements” were using explosive devices and landmines to obstruct the building project.

Authorities say the narrow streets of the neighbourhood, which was built during Ottoman rule more than 200 years ago, have become a hideout for Shiite militants believed to be behind attacks on security forces in the region.

Protests calling for more rights for Shiites have increased in Qatif since the execution of Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr in January last year.

* Reuters and Agence France-Presse