Dubai: A US citizen was shot and wounded in eastern Saudi Arabia on Friday, state news agency SPA reported, adding to security concerns in the kingdom.
A vehicle carrying two US citizens came under fire in the Eastern Province district of Al Ahsa, one of the main centres of Saudi Arabia’s Shiite community, SPA said, citing a police statement. It was not clear who shot at the vehicle.
The wounded man was taken to hospital and was in a stable condition, it added.
Saudi officials are concerned about the spread of sectarian strife from the conflicts in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Some leading clerics of Saudi Arabia’s official school of Islam view Shiites as heretics.
In the last attack on Saudi soil targeting Americans, a gunman killed a US citizen and wounded another in the capital Riyadh last October.
In November, seven Shiites were shot dead in Al Ahsa as they marked their holy day of Ashoura. Saudi Arabia has arrested the four main suspects and said it believes it was ordered by Daesh militants from abroad. Qatif, another centre of the Saudi Shiites alongside Al Ahsa, has been a focus of anti-government demonstrations in support of those who complain of discrimination. The Saudi authorities deny any discrimination.
