RIYADH, 28 February 2006 — Saudi security forces yesterday gunned down five terrorists in Al-Yarmouk district in a predawn raid and arrested another wanted terror suspect in Al-Rawabi district. Both neighborhoods are in the east of the capital.
Three others were killed and three injured at a nearby checkpoint when security forces opened fire on a four-door pickup they believed was carrying terrorists.
“The investigation into Friday’s foiled operation helped in locating the whereabouts of the wanted men and the house,” Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki told Arab News, referring to last week’s attack on the oil refinery in Abqaiq in the Eastern Province.
Al-Turki confirmed that a situation at a checkpoint went awry during the tense battle, resulting in police opening fire on a vehicle, killing three people and injuring another three of South Asian and Southeast Asian descent.
“A car that emerged from within the cordoned area did not respond to police warning calls and shots,” said the Interior Ministry spokesman. “As the speeding pickup truck came closer toward security forces, they were very suspicious of the vehicle. It was considered a threat.”
Philippine Charge d’Affaires Germinia Aguilar Usudan confirmed that five of the truck’s occupants were Filipino construction workers. The embassy said two of the fatalities were Filipinos. The dead Filipinos were identified as Abel Monterela and Felix Llorando. The three injured were Rodel Miranda, Jimmy Tactor and Salvador Bibon.
Labor Attache Manuel Roldan said that when he and Rey Banda of the Assistance to Nationals Section of the Philippine Embassy visited them at the National Guard Hospital, Miranda was in the intensive care unit, Tactor in the operating room and Bibon being treated in the emergency room.
Bibon told Roldan that he saw uniformed men fire at the company van.
The van was on its way to Olaya Road, where Badr Soubo Construction, the victims’ employer, has a project.
Policemen, along with Saudi Special Forces units, besieged the one-story villa before dawn and sealed off all entry and exit points in the district to safeguard citizens and residents. Two helicopters — one belonging to the Civil Defense and the other to the Saudi Army — were seen flying at low altitude.
Al-Turki confirmed that a large quantity of weapons and explosives were found at the raided safe house.
A man living close to the scene of the shooting said he was awakened around 5 a.m. by the sound of gunfire. It seemed to be coming from the direction of a compound called Al-Waha Garden Village and the Dammam Highway.
“Sometimes we hear gunfire in the evening from weddings, but this was definitely automatic gunfire,” he said, adding that the gunfire was interspersed with what sounded like grenades.
“It continued through (Fajr) prayer. It was difficult to pinpoint where it came from, but it was very close.”
The source said the gunfire continued sporadically with some police activity and an explosion until about 6.50 a.m. After that all fell silent, but police activity continued with helicopters in the air.
“With daylight things became distinct and we noticed a column of smoke coming from the area we had originally identified. We estimate it was between 1 and 2 km from where we were,” he said.
Another eyewitness whose house was in the area told Arab News that he heard the sound of gunfire followed by the sound of a large explosion just as he was having breakfast with his children before they were to leave for school.
Residents also said they saw smoke coming from the suspected safe house after they heard the explosion.
A source told Arab News that police had asked the terror suspects to surrender and returned fire after they received gunfire as a response.
Al-Arabiya TV said the raid was connected with information from one of the two cars from Friday’s Abqaiq attack. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for Friday’s foiled attack by some of its members to penetrate the Abqaiq oil refinery.
Several ambulances from the Saudi Red Crescent arrived at the scene after the gunbattle was over to carry the bodies of the deceased suspects to the morgue. Forensic experts were also present at the scene.
A statement from the Interior Ministry said that all of the five terror suspects living in the safe house were killed. It also briefly mentioned the other raid that took place yesterday morning in Al-Rawabi where one terror suspect was arrested.
The statement did not specify whether the five killed are on the list of 36 most wanted terror suspects in the Kingdom, released by the Interior Ministry last year. Twenty-one on that list still remain at large.
The government has been battling the Al-Qaeda militants since May 2003. Attacks by Al-Qaeda have claimed the lives of dozens of citizens and police officers. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah vowed last year that the “Kingdom would fight terror to the end.” He also called for the establishment of an international body to fight terror in all its forms during an international conference held in Riyadh last year.
(Roger Harrison, Rudolfo Estimo Jr. and Rolando Blanco contributed to this report.)
