JEDDAH, 2 June 2003 — Two Saudi security men and a suspected terrorist wanted by the authorities were killed on Saturday night in a shootout in the northern region of Hail, an Interior Ministry statement said yesterday.
Another gunman was arrested and two more security men were injured in the clash, the ministry said.
The two suspects had sped away in their car to escape an identity check by the security forces.
They hurled a grenade at security men chasing them, killing two and wounding two others.
The security men caught up with the suspects, killing one and arresting the other.
The dead man was identified as Yousuf Saleh Fahd Al-Ayeeri, one of 19 men Saudi authorities have been hunting since May 6, when they uncovered a cell belonging to the Al-Qaeda terror network.
The arrested suspect identified himself as Abdullah ibn Ibrahim ibn Abdullah Al-Shabrami, the ministry statement said, adding that authorities were trying to verify his identity.
Hail Governor Prince Saud ibn Abdul Mohsen told Al-Watan newspaper that trouble erupted late Saturday at a checkpoint in Turba, 200 kilometers from Hail city.
Meanwhile, the ministry yesterday announced the names of the suspects it arrested in Madinah over the past week.
Those arrested were: Ali Khudair Fahd Al-Khudair, Ahmed Hamoud Al-Khaledi, Saad Abdul Razak Al-Ghamdi, Turki ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Fuhaid, Nasir Hamad Al-Fahd, Muhammad Salim Al-Ghamdi, Hisham Mubarak Al-Hekami, Omar Mubarak Al-Hekami, Majdi Ahmed Al-Khabrani, and Abdul Monem Ali Al-Ghamdi, all Saudis.
They also arrested two Moroccans — Taleb Ahmed Kareem and Muhammad Abdul Fattah Muhammad Karam — and three unidentified Arab women.
Police confiscated 22 guns, including Kalashnikov rifles, three hand grenades, seven boxes of ammunition, dangerous chemicals, a number of computers, remote control devices and electricity circuits used for making bombs, forged IDs, and cash.
Police found that the suspects were staying in several villas in Madinah, where they accumulated weapons, bombs and chemicals and used surveillance cameras.
In the past week alone Saudi security forces have arrested dozens of suspected Al-Qaeda sympathizers and operatives in a Kingdomwide crackdown, including the alleged mastermind of the Riyadh blasts.
