Saudi Arabia's top Sunni cleric yesterday branded a deadly attack on Shi'ite Muslims a bid to sow chaos, after villagers targeted in the bombing vented their anger at what they saw as the Sunni-dominated government's indifference to their safety.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of al-Qadeeh town on Friday evening, hours after a suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers in a packed Shi'ite mosque, the first attack in the conservative kingdom to be claimed by Islamic State militants. It was one of the deadliest assaults in recent years in the largest Gulf Arab country.