RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's interior ministry says armed men shot at a security patrol in the country's predominantly Shia eastern region, wounding a policeman and two Indian nationals passing by.

Interior Ministry Spokesman Maj Gen Mansour al-Turki says the attack took place on Monday evening as the patrol was checking on the security situation in al-Khuwaildiya district in the predominantly Shia eastern region of al-Qatif. He says the wounded were taken to a hospital.

Last month, five people were killed and nine were wounded in a deadly shooting at a Shia mosque in al-Qatif.

That shooting was claimed by a new branch of the self-styled Islamic State group called "Bahrain Province" ─ a reference to the historic area of Bahrain, which once encompassed the current island-state and parts of eastern Saudi Arabia.