Saudi forces shoot dead two in Shiite village

RIYADH: Saudi forces shot dead two men, one of them wanted in connection with unrest in the kingdom's oil-rich Shiite-populated Eastern Province, the interior ministry said.

Suspect Khalid Abdulkarim al-Labad was tracked down to a house in Al-Awamiya, a Shiite town in the Qatif district of the province, a ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency late on Wednesday.

"When security forces tried to arrest the wanted man, he and the armed men accompanying him opened fire on security forces, who dealt with the situation," the spokesman said.

Labad and "one of his companions were killed while two of the gunmen with him were wounded and the third was arrested."

Activists confirmed the death of Labad, who figured on a list of 23 suspects wanted in connection with disturbances in Qatif.

"Labad was shot dead after security forces stormed his house," one activist, who requested anonymity, told AFP, adding that four people were also wounded.

Since early 2011, mainly Shiite towns in the Eastern Province have seen sporadic protests and confrontations between police and marginalised Shiites who are estimated to number some two million in the Sunni-dominated kingdom.

Unrest erupted after an outbreak of violence between Shiite pilgrims and religious police in the Muslim holy city of Medina in February 2011.

The protests escalated when the kingdom led a force of Gulf troops into neighbouring Bahrain the following month to help crush Shiite-led pro-democracy protests against its Sunni-minority monarchy.

Human rights groups say more than 600 people have been arrested since spring 2011, most of them in Qatif. The majority have since been released.