A wanted person has been fatally wounded during an operation by Saudi security forces in eastern Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry said on Sunday, in the second incident of its kind since Friday.

The remains of hundreds of mainly Shi'ite inmates killed by Islamic State militants when they overran a prison in northern Iraq more than two years ago have been unearthed by forces retaking the area from the group, a spokesman said.

Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman left Saudi Arabia on Monday for the United States for a visit scheduled to include talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, the Royal Court said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

A Saudi child sustained critical injury today (Saturday March 11, 2017) after Saudi forces raises an old neighborhood in the Al-Awamiyah town in the Eastern Saudi province of Qatif.

U.S.-backed Iraqi army units on Wednesday took control of the last major road out of western Mosul that had been in Islamic State's hands, trapping the militants in a shrinking area within the city, a general and residents said.

Saudi Arabia may increase its domestic gasoline prices by 30 percent from July, industry sources said, part of a reform plan by the world's top oil exporter to align its fuel prices with global benchmark levels, Reuters reported.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir held talks in Baghdad with Iraq's leadership Saturday, the first such visit by a chief diplomat from the kingdom since 2003.

Iran has sent a delegation to Saudi Arabia for talks on Iranians attending haj, state television reported on Wednesday, after Tehran boycotted the Muslim pilgrimage last year.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) awarded 4.5 billion dirhams ($1.2 billion) in military procurement deals on Sunday, part of a total of 20 billion dirhams worth of purchases it expects to make at an arms fair this week, a spokesman for the expo said.

The UK-based daily the Guardian said, “The global transfer of major weapons systems rose over the past five years to the highest volume since the end of the cold war as the Middle East nearly doubled its imports, according to an annual report on arms sales.”

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces fought Islamic State fighters on Monday to clear the way to Mosul's airport, on the second day of a ground offensive on the jihadists' remaining stronghold in the western side of the city.

Gulf Arab states are poised to continue to spend billions of dollars on defence despite low oil prices causing severe budget deficits forcing Gulf States to introduce austerity measures and cut spending.

Saudi Arabia has broken up four Islamic State cells suspected of providing shelter to wanted militants and recruiting fighters, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday, according to Saudi state television.

A soldier from the United Arab Emirates died while taking part in a Saudi-led military operation in Yemen, state news agency WAM reported on Friday, without clarifying the circumstances of his death.

Warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition struck a house north of Yemen's capital on Wednesday where mourners had gathered to offer condolences after a woman died, residents said, killing nine women and one child and injuring dozens.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit Oman and Kuwait on Wednesday, state media reported, in his first visit to the Gulf Arab states since taking power in 2013.

Kuwait's information and youth minister submitted his resignation Monday, two days before he was scheduled to face a confidence vote over a sports ban, a government source and parliamentarians said.

A man tried to set himself alight with gasoline beside the Kaaba, the black-clad building towards which the world's Muslims face to pray, inside Mecca's Grand Mosque late on Monday but was arrested before he could do so, police in Saudi Arabia said.

The Kuwaiti appeals court overruled a verdict issued by the first-instance court acquitting the Secretary General of the "Islamic Alliance", prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Hussein Al-Maatouk, and fined him 20.000 Kuwaiti Dinar, after convicting him of “circulating false information and violating the national unity”.

The rich Arab monarchies of the Gulf have been conspicuously absent from the chorus of international condemnation of the U.S. ban on travel from seven mainly Muslim countries, hoping for warmer ties with Donald Trump than with his predecessor.