SAUDI ARABIA: Six suspected al Qaeda-linked militants and a policeman were killed in a shoot-out in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, yesterday, after police surrounded their house to prevent a planned attack, Saudi officials said.
Helicopters hovered as police cordoned off the upmarket residential district in northern Riyadh, which also houses royal palaces, where the shoot-out occurred. A seventh who tried to escape was wounded and arrested.
Security sources said police had been monitoring the group and the shoot-out lasted about three hours, ending at dawn yesterday. Saudi state television showed police removing several vehicles from the scene, some of them damaged in the clash, as officers carried away what appeared to be bags of evidence.
Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television showed footage of the bullet-riddled villa where the militants were found and quoted security sources as saying the militants were on the verge of launching unspecified attacks.
An interior ministry spokesman later told the television station it was too soon to tell whether the group had been in the advanced stages of an attack or were still planning it.
An earlier ministry statement said the seven were linked to a "deviant group", a label used to describe supporters of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
Officials say about 150 foreigners and Saudis, including security forces, and 130 militants have died in attacks and clashes with police since May 2003.