A Saudi Arabian man was shot dead in the kingdom's Eastern Province late on Sunday when security officers came under fire from an unidentified source, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Citing a police spokesman, SPA said an eight-year-old child, Mohammed Jafar Al-Thifa, was taken to hospital for treatment for a gunshot wound in the incident in Awamiya town. It did not elaborate but identified the dead man as Ali Imran Al-Dawood.

SPA said authorities were hunting what it called the perpetrators of a "terrorist" act. The security officers were seeking to recover stolen heavy equipment at the time of the shooting, SPA reported.

Awamiya, in the oil-producing province's Qatif district, is the home town of prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr Al-Nimr, who was executed on Saturday, along with three other Shi'ites and 43 members of Al Qaeda, on charges of terrorism. - Reuters