Qatif Crackdown: 2 Martyred in Saudi Regime Assassination

Local Editor

Amid its crackdown in Qatif, the Saudi regime invented a new way to eliminate its dissents.

An explosive-laden car had exploded in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province city of Qatif on Thursday, with initial reports of casualties.

Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television reported the incident without giving any details on casualties.

Two people had been martyred in the bombing that happened in a public market near Qatif's Sheikh Hussein al-Omran Mosque. They said the explosive-packed car went off after it came under RPG fire.

"The explosion was very huge," a witness told AFP, adding that armored and other police vehicles sealed off the scene of the bombing after the explosion.

Some media reported that a car bomb was a cause of the explosion. Locals claimed it was a suicide bomber attack.

The vehicle was moving slowly and exploded suddenly, witnesses at the scene said adding that the passengers who were surprised tried to escape the burning car but the fire had already engulfed them.

Witnesses confirmed that planting explosives devices and VBIEDs - an improvised explosive device - are the most recent methods the Saudi regime forces are using to eliminate dissidents.

Video and photographs posted on social media showed a vehicle engulfed in flames in the middle of a street, with dense black smoke rising around it.

Other images showed what appeared to be at least one charred body lying beside a vehicle, which looked like an SUV, after firefighters extinguished the blaze.

No group had claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

The Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] in 2014 began a campaign of bombings and shootings that has martyred more than 40 civilians in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, which includes Qatif.

In August, police said they shot dead a would-be suicide bomber targeting a mosque in Qatif district.

Alongside Daesh attacks, the Saudi regime began a crackdown on its dissents as its troops stormed and forced a siege on the city.

In 2011, protests began in the area and developed into a call for free speech, release of political prisoners, and an end to economic and religious discrimination in the Gulf country.

The regime had responded to the demonstrations with a heavy-handed crackdown but the rallies have intensified since January 2016 when Saudi Arabia executed respected Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Last month, violence escalated around Awamiya, a Qatif-area town. Regime forces had imposed a siege on the city.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team