Open sectarianism in Saudi Arabia frightens Shi'ites

[WorldNews]

By Angus McDowall QATIF, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - When the gunshots rang out, Ali, a 26-year-old Saudi Arabian Shi'ite Muslim, thought they were fireworks. The Oct. 16 shooting was the fourth attack by Islamic State jihadists against Saudi Shi'ites within 12 months, leaving 40 dead and unnerving a community whose position in an ultra-strict Sunni kingdom has rarely felt so precarious. The fate of Saudi Arabia's 2 million or so Shi'ites is closely watched because of Riyadh's intimate involvement in the region's sectarian conflict through its rivalry with Iran and the teachings of its influential clergy that Shi'ism is heretical.

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