JEDDAH: An attempt to carry out a terrorist act against a police station in Haddad Bani Malik, Taif Province, was aborted, the spokesman of the Interior Ministry said.

“The exchange of gunfire between security services and the terrorists resulted in the martyrdom of one soldier, Said Dahibish Al-Harthi,” Maj. Gen Mansour Al-Turki said.

Security men seized an explosive belt and nine elbow pipes prepared as bombs that were dismantled by bomb experts, he said.

Al-Turki said security officers on duty at the police station saw two men trying to infiltrate cars parked at the police station at 1 a.m. on Saturday.

“When the infiltrators felt they were being monitored, they started firing from a machine gun. The escaped in a vehicle that was waiting for them, following an exchange of gunfire with security services.

Security officers gave them a chase and disabled their vehicle, but the terrorists got out and fled on foot into one of the mountainous residential areas in the village of Thaqif, he said.

The terrorists were surrounded and the area was searched with the help of local residents, he added.