DOHA: Saudi security forces killed four militants in a clash in Awamiya region on Saturday, the Interior Ministry said.

The troops raided a militant hideout in Awamiya town and killed the four in an exchange of fire.

The dead were behind the killing of a member of the security forces and wounding of another last Sunday, a ministry spokesman said, quoted by the Saudi state news agency SPA. They included the leader of that attack, it said.

Awamiya has been the focal point of unrest among Saudi Shias since protests in early 2011 calling for an end to alleged discrimination against the minority sect and for democratic reforms in the country.

More than 20 people have been killed in the unrest since then, most of them local people shot in incidents that police have described as exchanges of fire. Shia rights activists say some of those killed were shot dead while peacefully protesting, which the government denies.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2014