He was unable to immediately confirm how the victims were killed but state television reported they were shot. Little information is known about the actual incident, with the state television channel only going by the account revealed by an unnamed police spokesman.
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Early reports stated he was a teacher.
A photograph was later released from state TV showing ambulances gathered outside an education department building.
Elsewhere in the kingdom there have been mass shootings and bombings claimed by the Islamic State group against the Shiite minority community.
As he emphasized that Morocco stands with Saudi against threats to the Gulf region’s peace, and said that the Saudi-led military operation which began in Yemen past year “proved that it was launched to defend legitimacy” in the country.
But four months of Russian air strikes in Syria – which Moscow says are targeting Islamic State – have helped President Bashar al-Assad claw back territory from rebel fighters, alarming Gulf Arab states who back the insurgents.
Jazan, situated on the kingdom’s southern border with Yemen, has been targeted by opposing forces since Saudi Arabia intervened in the conflict.
In October, two people were killed and another two were wounded when a gunman opened fire inside a bank in the city of Jazan. For the protection of AP and its licensors, content may not be copied, altered orredistributed in any form.
Ambassador Faisal Bin Hassan Trad cited one Saudi letter to OCHA chief Stephen O’Brien which said the coalition’s request for caution “in no way can be misinterpreted to indicate any hindrance to humanitarian access and the delivery of the humanitarian assistance in Yemen”. A Western diplomat said at the time that details of how the grouping would work remained unclear and “they don’t have the infrastructure” yet to run such a coalition.
Speaking at a security conference in Munich, Jubeir said Assad was responsible for the creation of ISIS by turning Syria into a “fertile ground” for its militants, in which the foreign minister described them as “psychopaths”.
Mass shootings are very rare in Saudi Arabia.
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Thomson ReutersIranian protesters chant slogans during a rally against the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, after Friday prayers in TehranZarif said he took inspiration from Iran’s historic nuclear deal with world powers last July, saying that agreement and the lifting of sanctions that have followed showed how deep-seated problems can be resolved through diplomacy.
