Jeddah, March 27 (IANS): An Indian expatriate sustained serious injuries after being assaulted in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the media reported.

Mohammed Rasheed, hailing from the south Indian state of Kerala, said he was returning home Monday night when a group of unidentified people suddenly attacked him without any provocation, The Arab News reported Thursday.

Rasheed, who works in a furniture shop in Abqaiq, a gated community of the Saudi Aramco oil company, sustained serious injuries in his left eye and was rushed to a hospital in Dammam, the capital of Eastern Province, for an emergency operation.

Investigations are being carried out by the Abqaiq police.

Rasheed praised the timely rescue by the security forces and expressed his gratitude.

In another case, an Indian expatriate was threatened with a gun and forced to work by a Saudi student in his rest house in Najran in south-western Saudi Arabia.

The accused, 25, went to the labourers’ accommodation and forced the man to accompany him for some work.

When they refused, he threatened them with a weapon, the police said.

“We reached the spot, released the workers and arrested the Saudi youth,” police said

The Indian workers are employed with a maintenance company based in Edma near Najran.