It said the shooting took place during a security operation in the coastal city of Dammam, a region where the Sunni-majority kingdom’s Shiite minority predominate.

No other details were provided on the identity of the deceased or the security operation.

Oil-rich eastern Saudi Arabia has been a flashpoint for troubles since 2011, when the region was rocked by a protest movement in the wake of the Arab Spring.

One prominent resident, Shiite cleric and government critic Nimr al-Nimr, was executed in 2016 on terrorism charges.

That sparked widespread outrage and a diplomatic crisis with Riyadh’s regional arch rival, Shiite-majority Iran.

Saudi Shiites make up an estimated 10% to 15% of the kingdom’s population of 32 million, though there are no official statistics on the community, long marginalised and disparaged as heretics.