JEDDAH, 23 April 2004 — Two police officers were wounded, one of them seriously, in a gun battle with suspected terrorists in the central city of Buraidah as security forces seized nearly 10,000 pieces of live ammunition after raids in two Makkah neighborhoods.
Security sources, meanwhile, said the two truck bombs defused by police on Monday in Rumhiyah, 90 kilometers east of Riyadh, contained more than 2,800 kilograms of explosives.
They said the two booby-trapped vehicles were ready for terrorist attacks in the capital. Police are still hunting for five suspected militants who fled in a jeep after abandoning the trucks.
The town of Oyaynah, 45 kilometers northwest of Riyadh, was besieged by security forces as they hunted five terrorists who had killed a member of the Mujahideen force and wounded one of his colleagues in Shuaib Al-Haisiya district of the town.
The two policemen wounded on Tuesday when suspected terrorists opened fire on their patrol jeep were Olayan Dhahwi Al-Harbi and Abdullah Eyad Al-Harbi. Witnesses said a militant got out of his pickup and started firing with his machine gun at police. The wounded policemen were taken to Buraidah Central Hospital and King Fahd Specialist Hospital. Abdullah, who is a trainee in the patrol police, is in serious condition.
Caches of live ammunition were seized by police in Makkah following raids at terrorist hideouts in Sharaie and Bathaa Quraish districts including rest houses.
Police found five boxes containing 5,000 pieces of bullets in one car. They also confiscated seven boxes, each containing at least 750 bullets in Bathaa Quraish.
