SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi security forces yesterday killed five suspected militants believed to be linked to an al-Qaeda attack on the world's biggest oil processing plant, the interior ministry said.
A shootout erupted at dawn after security forces besieged suspects in a villa in east Riyadh, where several western residential compounds are located. An official statement said five men were killed and another suspect arrested elsewhere in the capital.
The shootout took place three days after suicide bombers tried to storm the Abqaiq oil facility in the first direct strike on a Saudi energy target since the group launched attacks aimed at toppling the US-allied monarchy in 2003. The kingdom is the world's biggest oil exporter. Security sources said police traced the militants through two vehicles that appeared on the surveillance video of the oil facility shortly before the attack.