Ahmad Abdullah Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Two people were killed Sunday following the arrest of a “seditious instigator" in the Eastern Province town of Al-Awamiyah, the Ministry of Interior said. The instigator, Nimr Baqir Al-Nimr, was arrested Sunday evening following a gun battle. Al-Nimr and his followers opened fire on security officers trying to arrest him, the ministry said. “Security authorities were notified by a nearby medical center of the arrival of four individuals brought in by their relatives," Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, the ministry spokesman, said. “Two of them were dead, the other two were slightly injured. Competent authorities initiated investigations of the incident," Al-Turki said. Al-Nimr was injured in the exchange of fire. He was later overpowered and taken to a hospital for treatment. He now faces charges of sedition, Al-Turki said. “In the aftermath of the arrest ... a limited number of people assembled in the town of Al-Awamiyah," the Interior Ministry statement said. “Gun shots were heard in random areas of the town. However, there was no security confrontation whatsoever." Al-Nimr's arrest follows complaints from several Qatif residents that he was instigating sedition and delivering speeches encouraging youth to disturb the peace. Acting on the orders of foreign powers seeking to disrupt the peace, the 54-year-old instigator has been accused of encouraging youth with criminal records to rise against the government, sources said. Al-Nimr even called for some regions to secede from the Kingdom. Al-Nimr's wife is being treated for cancer in the United States at the expense of the Kingdom while one of his sons received a scholarship from the government to study abroad.
