RIYADH, 29 December 2004 — Three suspected terrorists were killed and another was injured in a gunbattle with security forces in the capital last night, security sources told Arab News. The encounter took place near Al-Salam Park, close to the Higher Court in Riyadh’s Al-Deera district.
According to the sources, the terrorists opened fire on policemen who were in their hot pursuit near a gas station. The police returned fire in which the three terrorists were killed. There was no word on the casualties among the men in uniform. The sources added that some of the terrorists managed to escape the dragnet after the gunbattle. The security forces, they said, had launched search operations for the remaining members of the deviant group in several of the capital’s districts. The search continued at the time of going to press.
Arab News learned late last night that part of the gas station burst into flames following the exchange of fire. Firefighters were immediately called in and the flames were extinguished well before the flames could engulf the entire gas station. Security forces later sealed off the area and curious onlookers were asked to stay away from the scene of the encounter.
It could not be immediately ascertained whether the suspects were most wanted terrorists or they were just wanted by the government for security reasons.
Security forces in the Kingdom are still on the look out for eight of the remaining top terrorists on the original list of 26 most wanted named by the Interior Ministry last year for their involvement in various terrorist-related incidents in the Kingdom since May 12, 2003.
Earlier this month, five terror suspects belonging to a deviant group stormed the US Consulate in Jeddah in what was the first attack on a foreign mission in the Kingdom.
Security forces shot dead three of the five assailants, while two others were hospitalized with serious injuries. One of them died in hospital later.
According to the Interior Ministry, the gunmen who stormed the US Consulate were not among the top terrorists wanted by the government but were members of a sleeper cell who sympathized with Al-Qaeda’s ideology of terror.
