Two Saudi Police Shot Dead in Eastern City
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Unidentified gunmen killed two Saudi policemen in the eastern city of Dammam late on Saturday, the country’s interior ministry said, describing it as a "terrorist attack."
The two officers were patrolling in a police car when they came under fire at around 11:30 pm (2030 GMT), a ministry spokesman said. They were both pronounced dead on arrival in hospital.
The spokesman did not specify who it held responsible for the shooting but there have been previous attacks on police in areas of the oil-rich east of the kingdom this year, AFP reported.
In January four police were killed in attacks.
The situation in eastern Saudi Arabia has been tense since the January execution of a prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr, which sparked a global condemnation by many countries as well as rights groups.
Sheikh Nimr had been detained in July 2012 on charges of delivering anti-regime speeches and defending political prisoners.
