Bomb injures policeman at Saudi Arabia patrol station

Riyadh: A small bomb exploded outside a highway patrol station in eastern Saudi Arabia, injuring a policeman, official media said yesterday.

The attack happened late Thursday in the Al-Ahsa region, the Saudi Press Agency said, citing a provincial police spokesman.

One member of the police force received “a minor injury” and five vehicles were damaged, the spokesman added.

“Authorities started criminal investigations,” he added.

Police said early yesterday that the attack caused a “minor injury” to the police officer. Five vehicles were damaged.

A post on a website known to be used by Islamic State sympathizers claimed the attack and said militants carried out other assaults in the area. The police’s statement, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, did not mention any other attack.

Eastern Saudi Arabia also has been tense since the kingdom executed a prominent Shia cleric in January.

Most of Saudi Arabia’s minority Shias live in the kingdom’s Eastern Province which includes Al-Ahsa, an oasis region where much of the kingdom’s oil reserves are located. In January a suicide bomber attacked a Shia mosque in Al-Ahsa, killing two people and wounding seven during Friday prayers.

It was the latest assault after earlier shootings and bombings claimed by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

IS has also claimed attacks on Saudi security forces, most recently early this month when a police colonel was shot dead in the Riyadh
area.