Gunmen kill two Saudi security officers in Dammam: report

Saudi policemen stand guard at the site where a bomber blew himself up in the early hours of July 4, 2016 near the American consulate in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. (Photo by AFP)

Saudi Arabia, Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:59 AM

Unidentified gunmen have shot dead two security officers in Saudi Arabia’s eastern city of Dammam, state news channel Al Arabiya reports.

The report said the attackers opened fire on the security officers who were returning from work in Dammam in a private car on Tuesday.

The channel’s website posted pictures showing police cars with flashing lights crowding the incident scene which is a residential street in Dammam.

Saudi Arabia has seen a spate of deadly shootings and bombings targeting security forces or the country’s Shia minority over the past year.

In September, two other policemen were shot dead in Dammam which is the capital of the Eastern Province, home to many Shia Muslims.

There have been shootings of security forces in the Eastern Province in the past by militants angry at what they say is repression of their minority community in the Wahhabi-ruled country.

The Saudi government, however, has often blamed the Takfiri terrorist group of Daesh for the attacks.

The ideology behind Daesh reign of terror is rooted in Saudi Arabia where Wahhabism is freely preached and tolerated by the kingdom's rulers.

Various terrorist groups operating in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the world practice Wahhabism, a radical strand of ideology preached by government-sanctioned Saudi clerics.