A Saudi Arabian news agency reported that masked gunmen opened fire on a group of people in the states eastern area on Tuesday, killing five and wounding nine others in an apparent sectarian attack directed at the kingdom's Shiite minority, according to Reuters.
The official Saudi Press Agency said the attack happened late Monday evening in the village of al-Dalwah, which is located in the country's al-Ahsa province, Reuters reported. Sunni militants in neighboring Iraq frequently target Shiites, whom they consider heretics, during the holiday.
The area is one of the main centers for Saudi Arabia's minority Shiite community, and witnesses said the attack happened inside a Shiite shrine as worshippers were marking Ashoura, which commemorates the 7th-century death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who is revered by Shiites.
The attackers shot the victims with pistols and machine guns, according to the news agency, Reuters reported. It provided no further details on the identities of the attackers or the victims, and said an investigation is underway.
So far, six people have been arrested in connection to the shooting, an interior ministry spokesman said, according to Reuters.
"As a group of citizens was leaving a building ... three masked men opened fire at them with machine guns and pistols," the spokesman said, adding that the incident was under investigation.
Shi'ites face discrimination and lack educational opportunities or government employment in the majority Sunni state, but the Saudi government denies allegations of discrimination, Reuters reported.
