Saudi Police Say Officer Shot Dead in Capital

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a policeman in the capital of Saudi Arabia on Friday, a police spokesman said.

Gunmen in a car opened fire at a patrol in southern Riyadh, killing one of its members, a spokesman for Riyadh region police said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency.

It was the latest in a series of attacks on security forces in the kingdom which is part of a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State group jihadists in Syria.

Two Saudi police officers were wounded in a drive-by shooting in Riyadh in late March, days after the kingdom started to lead an campaign of air strikes targeting Shiite rebels in Yemen.

On March 22 the United States resumed consular services in the Gulf state following a week-long closure over unspecified "heightened security concerns."

Saudi security forces also occasionally come under attack from opponents in the country's Shiite-populated Eastern Province.

Attacks on police are rare in the capital, however.