Saudi police kill 'wanted terrorist' in restive Shia province

Saudi police have killed a wanted "terrorist" in the Shia-majority eastern district of Qatif, where there has been a string of attacks on security forces, local media said on Saturday.

Jaafar al-Mobireek was killed late on Friday in an operation in the city of Saihat, in Eastern Province, al-Jazirah newspaper reported, adding that he was a member of a "Qatif cell."

The suspect was one of nine people wanted by the interior ministry and had been involved in targeting people and security forces and "vandalising public, security and economic installations," the paper said.

The district has been rocked by unrest since 2011, when Shia protests erupted to demand equality in the Gulf kingdom. Authorities have blamed the violence on "terrorists" and drug traffickers.

On Thursday, a border guard was shot dead and another wounded when their patrol came under fire on al-Ramis coast in Qatif, Arab News daily reported citing an interior ministry statement.

Home to a significant number of the kingdom's minority Shia Muslims - who have traditionally complained of marginalisation - Qatif has recently seen mounting attacks on police.

Three police officers have been killed and several wounded in Qatif since last month, while two suspects died when their car exploded, according to the authorities.

Saudi authorities on Tuesday executed four men convicted of "terrorist crimes", including attacks on police and rioting in Qatif.

Human rights group Amnesty International reported 158 death penalties in the country for 2015, the highest annual rate in the past two decades.

Saudi Arabia has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.