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Subscribe to RSSRIYADH -- A Saudi soldier was shot dead patrolling an area populated by minority Shiite Muslims late on Friday, the Interior Ministry said, and one of the gunmen was killed in the ensuing shoot-out.
The deaths bring to 11 the number of people killed in the Qatif area since November in protests by members of Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority over what they see as entrenched discrimination.
"A security patrol was exposed to heavy fire from four armed rioters on motorbikes when pausing at a street intersection in Qatif," state news agency SPA reported, quoting Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Turki.
Turki said the gunmen had been arrested after an exchange of fire in which one of them was killed, and said another man suffering a bullet injury had been arrested at the hospital.
He added that the incident, which happened at 11 pm on Friday evening, had led to the death of one soldier, named as Hussein Bawah Ali Zabani, and the wounding of another, named as Saad Miteb Mohammed al-Shammari, whom he said was taken to hospital.
Heretical?
Saudi Shiites mostly live in the Eastern Province, also home to the kingdom's oil industry, and complain they lack access to government jobs, education and full rights of worship, charges the government denies.
The world's top oil exporter follows the conservative Wahhabi school of Islam, which regards Shiism as heretical.
Protests broke out in Qatif last year when Saudi troops were invited by the government of neighboring Bahrain to help its Sunni royal family quash a popular uprising by the Shi'ite majority.
Last month a new round of protests ended with three deaths after police arrested and injured a firebrand Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, who had preached sermons urging demonstrations against the government.
Ten of the 11 people to have died in Qatif demonstrations since late last year were young Shiite men, killed in what Saudi Arabia said were exchanges of fire, but which local activists described as peaceful protests.
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have both accused Shi'ite regional power Iran of fomenting the unrest among members of the sect in both countries, which Tehran denies.
The Interior Ministry in January issued a list of 23 residents of the area who it said were responsible for attacks on security forces, acting at the behest of "a foreign power", widely understood to mean Iran.
Shi'ites in Qatif, who often raise the Bahraini flag in shows of solidarity with their co-religionists in the tiny Gulf Arab country, have repeatedly said the protests are not organized by Iran.
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Be nice , shake hands and smile ,Sell them guns/war machines , help create and escalate violence from within, now we have a well armed bad guy to fight. (and there's a nice story to follow too)
$$
(the never ending story of bad against good continues with no end in sight and a long list of backass countries to use as test dummies for U.S. war machine designers)
All the U.S./rich nations want is the resources and if the countries Govt will not give it to us dirt cheap than the propaganda war machine will be put in place.
They are creating a bad guy with middle east muslins and we cant have a fight with out a bad guy .... right ? (it has to be someone)
the West is Completely Wrong ! ! !
Islam IS a Religion of PEACE....well, actually, it's spelling is a bit different....
ISLAM IS A RELIGION OF PIECES (as in mangled body parts)
Perfect advertizing ...... going with the violence angle is both cleaver and edgy.
In Mali, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other places, it is a bit more Islam plus!
Sufis are the "love", "peace" and singing dancing versions of Muslims.
They can fool most into believing that Islam stands for "love" and "peace". This Ramadan soap opera is used when the Muslims are cornered from all sides and are down to knees!
Now Islam has become very advanced.
On Fridays, Sufis mosques are blown up in Pakistan while these people are praying!
Then they get Allah's special treatment! Even the hospitals where the injured are treated are blown up!
In Mali, there are other special treatments for Sufis!!!!
Shall I add a bit more of realities?
Followers of Islam say that the Islam is a religion of "love" and "peace".
Actually, the followers of Islam blow both "love" and "peace" to pieces!
Have they not advanced far in 21st century?
Wahhabi school of Islam, which regards Shiism as heretical. Now isn't that the pot calling the kettle black! This all is Islam, the most dangerous scourge on the face of the earth. While they hate each other they hate the US more as our politics and lifestyle point out to all of Islam just what a failed state of affairs they are. Let's sit back and watch them kill each other off.
You have posted most sense!
Let us promise (we can copy good things from them and improve a bit with times) 720 virgins to those who kill millions in their religious battles.
They should immediately decide whose Allah is greater. This will not give much time for Hillarys, Netanyahos, McCains, Libermanns, Romney to mess up Islamic religious battles.
Iranian theocratic dictators have been trying to destabilize the Saudi government for a long time. The Shia elements in all arab countries have been receiving funds, training and arms from the Iranian ayatollahs to take down their Suni rulers. I am not, and have never been a supporter of the saudi kings and their families ruling the country, but as a lesser of the two evils, I go with the Saudis Vs. Iran.
Arm them all and let them exterminate each other ...
Oh look another article to demonise Iran, basically saying “the evil Iran is trying to destabilise one of our kind-do-nothing-wrong allies, we must stop them” Yawn this is getting really boring America, I mean you have already proved time and time again that you don’t care about world opinion, so go ahead and just invade Iran already, I’m sure the news networks would rather cover that then the Olympics (rolls eyes)