Saudi Arabia on Sunday executed four Yemenis found guilty of murdering a security guard, the kingdom’s interior ministry said.

The four men robbed and killed a Pakistani man who worked as a security guard at a company, said a ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The execution took place in Mecca, the statement added.

Twenty people have been executed in the kingdom since the beginning of the year, according to the authorities.

The ultra-conservative kingdom has one of the world’s highest rates of execution, with suspects convicted of terrorism, homicide, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking facing the death penalty.

In 2018, Saudi Arabia carried out the death sentences of 120 people (AFP)