RIYADH: A homemade explosive device has killed a senior Saudi police officer in a Shia town where deadly violence has flared in recent weeks, the interior ministry said on Monday.

Major Tariq al-Alaqi was killed and two policemen were wounded in the blast late Sunday in Awamiya, the ministry said in a statement.

They were patrolling the town’s old Almosara neighbourhood, where unrest has escalated in recent weeks around a redevelopment project. Alaqi is at least the fourth person to have been killed in the violence.

The interior ministry has implicated criminals involved in the drug and arms trade in the violence in Awamiya.

Awamiya, in Eastern Province, has seen repeated security incidents in recent years.

It was the home of Nimr al-Nimr, a Shia cleric put to death in January last year for “terrorism”.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2017