RIYADH, July 14: A gunman was killed during an attack on a police station as four Saudi policemen were wounded in a separate assault on their patrols in the kingdom's Shiite-populated east, state media reported.

“Four masked gunmen on motorbikes entered Al-Awamiya police centre where one of them threw a petrol bomb while the rest opened fire at the station,” interior ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki said, quoted by SPA news agency.

“The guards dealt with them, killing one while the rest (of the assailants) fled,” said Turki.

The attack in the town of Al-Awamiya took place on Friday evening, less than a week after two protesters were killed in clashes with police in Qatif district following the arrest of a prominent cleric.—AFP