RIYADH: A security officer was “martyred” as police battled gunmen trying to sow terror in the mountain city of Taif, the Ministry of Interior said on Sunday.
In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), a ministry spokesman said the terror plot was foiled when security officers on duty at a police station in Haddad, Bani Malik governorate, spotted two suspects getting into the parking area at about 1 a.m. on Sunday.
When they were challenged, they started firing automatic weapons and in the ensuing exchange of fire police officer Saeed Dahibish Al-Harthy was killed.
The gunmen escaped later escaped to one of the mountainous residential areas in the village of Thaqeef.
Troops found an explosive vest and bomb-making material and the security operation was ongoing, the spokesman said.
Saudi forces have been caught up in an escalating confrontation with Daesh militants in the last week after troops shot dead two extremist fighters and two others blew themselves up in a raid on their compound outside Makkah on Thursday.
Two other suspects were killed and a third was wounded in southwestern Bisha province on Sunday.
In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), a ministry spokesman said the terror plot was foiled when security officers on duty at a police station in Haddad, Bani Malik governorate, spotted two suspects getting into the parking area at about 1 a.m. on Sunday.
When they were challenged, they started firing automatic weapons and in the ensuing exchange of fire police officer Saeed Dahibish Al-Harthy was killed.
The gunmen escaped later escaped to one of the mountainous residential areas in the village of Thaqeef.
Troops found an explosive vest and bomb-making material and the security operation was ongoing, the spokesman said.
Saudi forces have been caught up in an escalating confrontation with Daesh militants in the last week after troops shot dead two extremist fighters and two others blew themselves up in a raid on their compound outside Makkah on Thursday.
Two other suspects were killed and a third was wounded in southwestern Bisha province on Sunday.
