Saudi Arabia's security forces killed a man who was wanted by the government, and also shot dead a youth who was with him, when they went to a house searching for the man in the country's restive eastern region of Qatif.
The Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom's official news agency, reported late on Wednesday that the forces shot dead Khaled Abdel-Karim Hassan Al-Labad, who had been placed on a list of 23 people that the government has accused of fomenting unrest in the area. The agency said the shooting erupted when Mr. Labad and other gunmen in Awamiya village opened fire on security f orces at a house there. Another person was also shot and killed, while two were injured and a third was captured, the agency said.
Activists on Facebook and Twitter and on Web sites posted reports, photographs and videos related to the operation. Rasid, an Arabic language Web site covering Shiite news in the kingdom, reported that troops “stormed†a house using machine guns aimed at people there including Mr. Labad, who it described as a rights activist having taken part in demonstrations for justice and equality.
The Saudi journalist and blogger Ahmed Al Omran drew attention to the differing accounts as to whether Mr. Labad and the others were armed as well as to the videos of the reported gunfight.
Saudi govt spox: Security forces killed two, injured two and arrested one in Awwamiya http://t.co/cDoj3MPS · Ar
- Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) 26 Sep 12
@the5ald the usual: MOI says he was armed, activists say they were unarmed.
- Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) 26 Sep 12
Saudi activists posted photographs of Mr. Labad after he died, showing what appeared to be bullet wounds, as well as a photograph of the youth, identified as 16-year old Mohammad Habib al-Munasif. The Rasid Arabic Web site also reported that three people were injured.
On its Facebook page, Qatifday showed a photograph of Mr. Labad's wrapped-up corpse identified with a hand-written placard. It posted calls for prayers for the injured and announced demonstrations on Friday in a day of anger to call for the release of detainees.
A video posted on YouTube by shababahrar, an account that has previously posted footage of unrest in the province, showed what it said were bloodstains left on the street from a man injured by gunfire.
A Saudi activist, Ahmed Al-Rebh, appeared to take note that the deaths coi ncided with the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.
Closed and stormed towns with killing in Qatif eastern Saudi Arabia. Why the #UN is silent ? #HumanRights #Qatif #ksa http://t.co/g3a3qiXz
- Ahmed Al-Rebh (@ahmedalrebh) 27 Sep 12
Another detail reported by Reuters and Al-Akhbar was of a third person killed in a car in Awamiya, but a government spokesman was quoted as saying that security forces suspect criminal activity. Several Twitter accounts that followed the news in Qatif posted a photograph of what appeared to be a teenager shot through the neck, head and upper torso.
My colleagues Robert Mackey and Michael Schwirtz have written about the killings of other protesters recently and clashes that erupted in their wake.
As my colleague Kareem Fahim wrote in July, the oil-rich Eastern Province is a stronghold of Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, and it has long be en a focal point of anger at the Sunni monarchy and of Shiite complaints about discrimination.
