Rocket attack kills Saudi policeman in Qatif: Ministry

Riyadh: A Saudi policeman was killed and six others wounded Sunday in a rocket attack in the Shi`ite-majority eastern district of Qatif, the Interior Ministry said.

The area has been rocked by unrest since 2011, when Shi`ite protests erupted to demand equality in the Sunni-dominated Gulf kingdom.

Sunday`s incident saw a police patrol come under a "terrorist attack with a rocket" in al-Masoura neighborhood in Qatif, the ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

It said the six wounded officers were hospitalised and in a stable condition.

Qatif has seen a string of assaults on security forces in recent weeks.

Police shot three men wanted for "terrorist" attacks earlier this month, the ministry said then.

Most of Saudi Arabia`s Shi`ites live in the oil-rich east, where they have long complained of marginalisation.

Authorities have blamed the violence on "terrorists" and drug traffickers.