RIYADH, 18 November 2004 — A police officer was killed and eight others were injured during a raid by security forces on a terrorist hide-out in Unayzah, Qassim, the Interior Ministry said yesterday. “The terrorists opened fire on the police when they raided a house in the Al-Qadisiya district of Unayzah, 370 km north of Riyadh,” a ministry spokesman said.
Five men were arrested. “Two were wanted for security-related matters and belong to the deviant group,” the official said, using the term commonly used to refer to Al-Qaeda sympathizers in the Kingdom. One of the two was seriously wounded, he added.
A cache of weapons including machine guns, pistols, grenades and ammunition as well as documents, maps, and SR38,000 in cash were found in the house, he said.
According to official sources, security officers carried out the raid after receiving information about the suspects hiding in the town. Police observed the suspects leaving their hide-out and followed one of them as he drove off in his car. He drove to a remote desert area to meet with others in a small rest house. Security officers surrounded the area and arrested the suspect and the others who were there. Simultaneously, other security forces raided the house in Unayzah where they were fired upon. Private Fahd Al-Olayan of the Unayzah Police Department was killed in the gunbattle.
The ministry’s statement confirmed that five suspects were arrested in the raid, two of whom were followers of Al-Qaeda. A source told Arab News that one of the five may be on the Kingdom’s list of 26 most wanted terrorists.
Funeral prayers for Olayan were held at King Fahd Mosque in Buraidah yesterday. A large number of people including Qasim Governor Prince Faisal ibn Bandar and Assistant Interior Minister Prince Muhammad ibn Naif attended. The governor later visited the injured officers in hospital.
