5 killed, 9 wounded in Saudi Arabia shooting

At least five people were killed and nine wounded when three masked men shot them with machine guns and pistols in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province late Monday night, the local Sabaq e-newspaper said on Tuesday.

The shooting occurred in Al-Ahsa Governorate in the Eastern Province, one of the main centers of the Shiite Muslims minority in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia. The shooters arrived in a car and started to attack them, a spokesperson of Eastern Province Police told the newspaper. The reason behind the case is still unknown and the identities of the three attackers also not revealed.

The attack happened when the Shiite Muslims were in ceremony to mark their Ashoura, the holy day commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of Prophet Mohammad who is revered by the Shiites.

Al-Ahsa has been one of the centers of anti-government protests in support of Shiites. The Shiite minority has been complaining about discrimination in educational opportunities and government employment in the majority Sunni state, as well as the restrictions on their religious practices. The Saudi government, however, denies such allegations. Source: Xinhua