JEDDAH: Security forces killed a terrorist who tried to attack a security facility in Abqaiq on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

Sgt. Ali Al-Habeeb, 47, was killed during the confrontation with the attacker, identified as Nawaf Manahi Shabib Al-Otaibi, said Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, the ministry’s spokesman.

Security sources said that before Fajr on Friday the attacker approached the facility in Abqaiq, in the eastern part of the Kingdom, and fired a machine gun. Al-Habeeb was shot in the head, while some of his colleagues were injured.

The terrorist fled but was chased down by security officers and surrounded inside a home located in the industrial district in the southern part of Abqaiq.

Officers had information that he was wearing an explosives belt and asked him to surrender. However, he refused so officers took him out.

This is not the first incident of its kind in Abqaiq. On Feb. 24, 2006, four Al-Qaeda militants breached the gates of Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq plant but did not manage to cause significant damage before being killed in a shootout with security guards.

All individuals involved in planning the incident, known as the Abqaiq Cell, were arrested. One man was sentenced to death while the others were jailed for up to 33 years. Saudi Arabia has been a target of militant groups for years.