JEDDAH, 23 June 2005 — Security forces have detained a number of suspects in connection with the murder of a senior security officer in Makkah earlier this week, an Interior Ministry statement said yesterday.
“A number of suspects have been detained as part of the investigation,” the Saudi Press Agency reported quoting the ministry but without giving a figure.
On Tuesday, Saudi forces shot dead two alleged killers of Lt. Col. Mubarak Al-Sawat near Jeddah. The ministry identified the two men as Kamal Sami Ahmed Foudah and Mansour Mustafa Al-Thubaity.
The ministry said the two were members of the “deviant group,” a term used by authorities to describe the Al-Qaeda terror network, which is blamed for a wave of attacks in the Kingdom over the past two years.
“The security agents have succeeded ... in establishing their identities and proving their direct involvement with the crime,” the ministry said.
According to the ministry, Foudah, 45, visited Afghanistan four times and was wanted for theft and kidnapping. Thubaity, 23, was also wanted for theft.
Police seized an unspecified quantity of arms, live ammunition, computers, money and a videotape which contained footage of the crime scene prior to Al-Sawat’s murder.
Foudah was sentenced to five years in jail for housebreaking in the Eastern Province several years ago; he had robbed both Saudis and expatriates at gun point.
According to press reports, police began pursuing the two men’s car in Bahra, a town between Makkah and Jeddah. They asked the men to surrender before the gun battle began.
Of the three policemen injured in the fight, two have already left hospital. Moussa Saleh Al-Zahrani, whose condition is serious because of a head wound, is still in hospital. Doctors have said his condition is stable.
Saudi leaders have vowed to crush the Al-Qaeda militants and their financiers. The country’s security forces have been successful in killing and arresting a large number of terrorists over the past two years.
