The unrest, on Monday night, occurred in the Gulf coast city of Qatif which is home to a large Shia population and was the scene of protests earlier this year.
"A foreign country is trying to undermine national security by inciting strife in Qatif," Saudi state television quoted the interior ministry as saying on Tuesday.
According to a statement issued to media by a Saudi interior ministry official, a group of "rioters and division instigators" gathered in Awamya, Qatif on Monday night.
The official stated that some of those involved gathered on motorbikes, "carrying Molotov cocktail bombs" and "started to wreak havoc under instructions from outside forces with the aim of destabilising the country."
The reference to a foreign country meddling in a Shia area is usually a coded reference to Iran, the Shia power and Saudi rival across Gulf waters.
The Eastern Province region is home to more than two million Shias, some of whom have called for better access to jobs and to be treated as equals in the ultra-conservative kingdom dominated by Wahhabism, a rigid form of Sunni Islam.
The interior ministry official also stated that the ministry would "deal with an iron fist with any of those radicalised or hired rioters."
| Fourteen hurt in Gulf city, officials say, as Saudis vow to come down on "division instigators" with an "iron fist". Last Modified: 04 Oct 2011 21:15 GMT |
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