On 4 November, two police officers and two gunmen were killed in an operation after five people were shot dead and another wounded.

[4] According to Saudi security, the leader of the gunmen had previously slipped back into the kingdom after fighting in Iraq and Syria.

[1] While the government and the official media and religious establishment strongly condemned the attack, a handful of articles in the Saudi press argued that the attack "had not come out of nowhere", that there was anti-Shi'ite incitement in the kingdom on the part of "the religious establishment, preachers, and even university lecturers – and that it was on the rise".

[6] On 2 September 2020, seven militants linked to the shooting were sentenced to death by the Special Criminal Court in Riyadh, while three others were handed 25-year jail terms each.

The court sentenced the first, second, third and fourth-degree defendant to the death penalty by crucifixion, while the others were typically judged to 25 years in prison.