JEDDAH/DAMMAM, 7 September 2005 — Saudi security forces stormed a major Al-Qaeda hide-out in the eastern city of Damman yesterday, killing all terrorists inside. Four security men were also killed in the operation.
In a brief statement, the Interior Ministry said security forces had “ended their operations,” which began Sunday in the main city of Eastern Province, losing four men, in addition to 10 wounded.
Police are purging the site (of the siege) where “charred remains” were found, the ministry said without giving the number of suspected militants killed. The reference to “charred remains” suggested some of the militants had blown themselves up.
An official earlier said five militants, in addition to two policemen, were killed in the confrontation, which started with a shootout in another neighborhood Sunday. Those casualties preceded the storming of the hide-out in the Al-Hamra district of Dammam, which is just 10 kilometers away from the oil center of Dhahran.
Witnesses saw ambulances and civil defense vehicles entering the scene of the gunbattle, which was cordoned off. Clashes intensified in the run-up to the raid. At one point, the thud of explosions could be heard across the city at the rate of one per minute, residents said. Saudi special forces stormed the building at 1 p.m. yesterday after intensive gunfire had weakened the militants over the last two days. They also cut electricity and water to the building.
Informed sources told Arab News that a militant who tried to run away from the building was gunned down by security men yesterday morning. Militants killed one of their colleagues when he attempted to surrender to security authorities on Monday.
Arab News learned that the building, which the terrorists rented for SR40,000 belonged to a security officer working at the Interior Ministry.
Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman of the ministry, described the operation a big success. He said the storming of the building was delayed in order to protect the lives of security officers, especially after learning that the terrorists were carrying a large number of weapons and explosives.
“We also wanted to catch the terrorists alive in order to get more information,” he said.
Medical sources said more than 50 people, including security officers, were wounded in the operation. They are under treatment at Dammam Central Hospital. Majed Al-Shammary, a police officer from Tabuk, died during the storming of the hide-out.
Prince Jalawi ibn Abdul Aziz, deputy governor of the Eastern Province, accompanied by Prince Muhammad ibn Naif, assistant interior minister for security affairs, yesterday visited the wounded officers in hospital.
Speaking to reporters, Prince Jalawi described the anti-terror operation as a major security achievement. He also commended the valor of Saudi security forces and their dedication toward the Kingdom’s security.
Police searched the building minutely to ensure it was free of explosives. Officers destroyed a number of bombs in the building with controlled explosions.
They also seized a large cache of weapons from the hide-out including guns, machine guns, explosives, gas cylinders and computers.
Security forces had since Sunday besieged what they call “members of the deviant group” after a shootout on Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd Street (just outside Panda supermarket) which resulted in the death of two militants.
The ministry has said that the two militants slain in Dammam Sunday were sought by the authorities, without saying if they were on a published list of most-wanted militants.
Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, meanwhile, said that Saudi Arabia was seeking endorsement at the upcoming UN General Assembly session of its proposal for an international center to combat terrorism.
The US Consulate in Dhahran said Monday it would close for an undetermined period of time because of the “standoff between Saudi security forces and an unknown number of terrorists in Dammam.”
A shooting and hostage-taking rampage in the nearby city of Alkhobar left 22 people dead in May 2004. Four Westerners were among those killed in the assault, which was claimed by the Al-Qaeda terror network.
The battle in Dammam was the latest in a series of offensives against Al-Qaeda suspects who have carried out a wave of shootings and bombings in the Kingdom since May 2003.
A fierce three-day gunbattle in April in the town of Al-Rass in the Al-Qassim region, a haven for militants some 320 kilometers north of Riyadh, left 15 suspected militants dead, including two top Al-Qaeda operatives.
