Saudi official says a security corporal killed, 6 wounded

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry says a Saudi security corporal has been killed and six security men wounded in a militant attack on their patrol in a restive town in the country's eastern province.

Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said in a statement Thursday that a security patrol was attacked earlier in the morning while checking the situation in al-Awamiya neighborhood in the heavily Shiite-populated governorate of Qatif. He says the investigation into this "terrorist crime" is under way.

Violence between Shiite militants and security forces there has increased in recent weeks, with several incidents of militants firing rocket-propelled grenades at police.

The Islamic State group has previously launched attacks on Shiites in Qatif.