16/07/2017
16/07/2017
RIYADH, July 15, (Agencies): Saudi police have killed a wanted “terrorist” in the Shiite-majority eastern district of Qatif, where there has been a string of attacks on security forces, newspapers said Saturday. Jaafar al-Mobireek was killed late Friday in an operation in the city of Saihat, in Eastern Province, al-Jazirah newspaper reported, adding that he was a member of a “Qatif cell.” The suspect was one of nine people wanted by the interior ministry and had been involved in targeting people and security forces and “vandalising public, security and economic installations,” the paper said. The district has been rocked by unrest since 2011, when Shiite protests erupted to demand equality in the Gulf kingdom. Authorities have blamed the violence on “terrorists” and drug traffickers. On Thursday, a border guard was shot dead and another wounded when their patrol came under fire on Al-Ramis coast in Qatif, Arab News daily reported citing an interior ministry statement. Home to a significant number of the kingdom’s minority Shiites — who have traditionally complained of marginalisation — Qatif has recently seen mounting attacks on police. Saudi authorities on Tuesday executed four men convicted of “terrorist crimes”, including attacks on police and rioting in Qatif. Three police officers have been killed and several wounded in Qatif since last month, while two suspects died when their car exploded, according to the authorities. Kuwait on Friday strongly condemned a terrorist attack on border guards in the Saudi eastern province of Qatif, killing a soldier and injuring another. The State of Kuwait stands firmly behind Saudi Arabia and in any measure it implement to safeguard its security and stability, a foreign ministry source said in a statement. Kuwait, he added, firmly rejects all forms of terrorism and violence. The source expressed deep condolences for family of the victim and wished speedy recovery for the injured. Qatar has expressed its strong condemnation and denouncement of a shooting attack in Al-Qatif, Saudi Arabia, which killed one soldier and wounded another. Qatar confirms its firm stand against terrorism and violent actions regardless of their motives and reasons, the foreign ministry said in a statement Friday. Doha also expressed its sincere condolences to the victims’ families and the Saudi people, wishing the wounded a swift recovery, added the statement. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday condemned strongly a “terrorist” assault on a checkpoint in Al-Qatif province, Saudi Arabia, late Thursday that killed a soldier and wounded another. In a statement, OIC Secretary General Youssef Al-Othaimeen denounced strongly the shooting attack on the checkpoint while it was performing its duties. He stressed that OIC stands side by side with Saudi Arabia to maintain its security and take all measures aiming to combat terrorism, it said. He offered his condolences to the victims’ families, wishing a speedy recovery to the wounded. He renewed OIC’s stance rejecting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations as well as extremism, the statement noted.