Saudi Arabia's minority Shias have staged protests in an eastern city, and four were shot dead, the Interior Ministry said Thursday. The ministry statement did not say who fired the fatal shots in the city of Qatif, but a top official said security forces were fighting with demonstrators there.
Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Mansour Al-Turki later told a news conference in Riyadh that authorities had to deal firmly with what he described as "rioters and hired elements" to restore security. He said the "escalation of rioting" was systematic. Along with the four dead, he said nine were injured, including a woman.
The statement said two were killed Thursday during the funeral of one who had died earlier. Circumstances of the death of the fourth were not disclosed. The ministry statement Thursday said the deaths in the new unrest were the result of exchanges of fire since Monday with "unknown criminals," who it said fired on security checkpoints and vehicles from houses and alleyways.
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