Saudi Arabia said Monday the assailants behind Shiite killings earlier this month are linked to the Islamic State jihadist group, including many jailed previously over suspected extremist ties.

The interior ministry said it had broken up the "criminal network" behind the attack in Eastern Province, adding that the group's "head had links with Daesh," the Arabic name for IS.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal is due in Vienna later Sunday where U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will update him on nuclear talks with Iran, a senior U.S. official said. 

Kerry will "meet with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal to update him on the (Iran) negotiations," the senior State Department official said.

Denmark on Sunday confirmed that one of its nationals was shot and wounded in the Saudi Arabian capital and said it was assisting the victim's relatives.

"We can confirm that a Danish citizen has been shot. We're giving consular help to the family," a Danish foreign ministry official told AFP.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam received on Sunday a message from French President Francois Hollande on the occasion of Independence Day, during which he expressed France's keenness on Lebanon's unity, stability, and sovereignty.

He added: “As prime minister, you are keen on safeguarding state institutions at this critical time and this should be translated into the election of a president as soon as possible.”

The upcoming weeks could be decisive in determining the election of a president given the regional and international interest to end the vacuum at the Baabda Palace, reported the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Sunday.

Christian sources from the March 14 camp told the daily that France, the Vatican, and Saudi Arabia are pressuring Lebanese powers to end the vacuum.

Hizbullah has refrained from commenting on the recent Saudi Arabian remarks about listing the party as a terrorist group in anticipation of an upcoming meeting between Speaker Nabih Berri and Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

It said that the speaker and ambassador are scheduled to meet on Tuesday.

Prominent political figures are expected to head in the upcoming hours to Saudi Arabia to discuss with al-Msutaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri the latest local and regional developments.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Saturday, the talks come in light of the presidential standstill and the efforts exerted to open communication channels between al-Mustaqbal and Hizbullah,

Saudi Arabia on Thursday beheaded a Turkish man convicted of drug trafficking, the interior ministry said, in the latest execution in the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom.

Ali Agridas had been convicted of receiving a "large amount of drugs" and was executed in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the ministry said in a statement.

Hizbullah on Thursday dismissed Saudi Arabia's call for the U.N. Security Council to label the Lebanese party as a “terrorist” group, shrugging it off as a “sonic bubble.”

“The Saudi envoy's remarks at the U.N. Security Council served Israel's interests,” Hizbullah sources told al-Mayadeen television.

France is seeking to encourage Iran to help the rival Lebanese politicians strike a deal on a new consensual president over fears that the regional turmoil would harm coexistence in Lebanon, diplomatic sources said.

The sources told An Nahar newspaper published on Thursday that the French initiative comes with an American support to fill the vacuum at Baabda Palace.