RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said yesterday two suspects have been arrested in connection with a January shooting attack on two German diplomats in the east of the kingdom.
The two envoys escaped unharmed when their car came under fire on January 13 in Eastern Province, where most of the country’s Shia minority lives.
A spokesman for the interior ministry said a Saudi identified as Ahmed bin Hussein Al Aradi was arrested at the beginning of February and admitted taking part in the attack.
The spokesman, cited by the official SPA news agency, said his interrogation led to the identification of his alleged accomplices, one of whom was arrested.
Protests first erupted in Eastern Province, home to the majority of the country’s two million Shias, in March 2011.
Ten people were killed in clashes with security forces, and the fighting intensified after the arrest in July 2012 of Sheikh Nimr Al Nimr, considered to be a driving force behind the protests.
However, tensions eased in August that year when seven Shia dignitaries from Qatif hailed a call by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz for the creation of a centre for Sunni-Shia interfaith dialogue. The interior ministry spokesman on Sunday also called for three people named on a list of 23 Saudis wanted in connection with violence in Eastern Province to give themselves up.
Gunmen seize $600,000 in Libyan Islamist stronghold
TRIPOLI: Gunmen stole $600,000 in a heist on a van taking cash to a bank in an Islamist stronghold in the volatile east where there is little state control, media said yesterday.
Five man stopped the van which was transporting 750,000 Libyan dinars ($604,900) from an office of telecommunications company Libyana in the city of Derna, state news agency Lana said.
Derna, east of Benghazi, is a coastal city largely out of government control and home to hardline Islamists.
With chaos spreading in the east, Western diplomats worry Derna is turning into a gathering and transit point for foreign and local Islamist fighters heading for Syria and Egypt.
Libya’s weak central government is unable to control militias who helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and use their guns to grab power and make financial demands.Agencies
