Dammam, Asharq Al-Awsat—Clerics, businessmen and other dignitaries from the city of Qatif in the Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province issued a statement condemning the “treacherous” killing of a Saudi soldier by unknown gunmen near the town of Al-Awamiyah on Sunday.

“We condemn the treacherous attack that led to the death of soldier Abdulaziz Ahmed Al-Asiri,” said the statement, which a thirty-strong delegation from the city handed to the province’s governor Prince Saud Bin Naif Bin Abdulaziz on Tuesday.

Asiri died after an unknown assailant opened fire on a security checkpoint near Al-Awamiyah on Sunday. Saudi authorities have opened an investigation into the attack.

Prince Saud welcomed Sheikh Abdullah Al-Khunaizi who headed the delegation, and said the Kingdom’s security services possessed the capability “to eliminate the criminal group” responsible for the attack.

The attack will not deter members of the Kingdom’s security forces, Prince Saud added.

The statement expressed appreciation for the role played by members of the security forces in countering terrorism and protecting the Kingdom’s security. The delegation reiterated that any attack on security force personnel represented a threat to national security and violated religious strictures which prohibited all kinds of aggression and criminalized violence and bloodshed.