Riyadh: Saudi Arabia said yesterday that clashes on Monday night that injured 14 people in its oil-rich eastern province, home to a large Shiite population, were the work of an unnamed foreign power, usually code for its rival Iran.
Protests in the region in March, inspired in part by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, had sent global oil markets reeling.
The area is home to more than 2 million Shiites, some of whom have called for better access to jobs and to be treated as equals.
"A group of troublemakers... assembled... some on motorbikes and carrying petrol bombs as they began their actions to disrupt security at the behest of a foreign country which tried to undermine the security of the homeland in a blatant act of interference," an Interior Ministry statement said.
Gunfire
Of the total injured, 11 were security personnel and three were civilians, the ministry statement said.
Qatif, a Shiite stronghold on the Gulf coast, and nearby Awwamiya, are in the east which holds much of the oil wealth of the world's top crude exporter.
Police came under gunfire as they tried to disperse the crowd. Nine policemen were shot and wounded and two hurt by petrol bombs, the statement said. It also said one man and two women were injured by gunfire.
