Policeman shot dead in eastern Saudi Arabia

By Ahmed al-Masri

RIYADH

A Saudi policeman was shot dead in eastern Saudi Arabia late Tuesday, according to the kingdom’s interior ministry.

The policeman came under fire from an unidentified source as he left a police station in the eastern Qatif province, ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

He said an investigation has been launched into the killing.

The Shia-majority Qatif province has experienced unrest since the death of a prominent Shia cleric whose execution by the Saudi authorities last year led to a rupture in Riyadh’s relations with Tehran.