Six suspected al Qaeda-linked militants and a policeman were killed in a shootout in the Saudi capital of Riyadh today after police surrounded their house.
Helicopters hovered above, as police cordoned off the upscale residential district, which also houses royal palaces, where the shootout occurred. A seventh militant, who tried to escape, was wounded and arrested.
Security sources said police had been monitoring the group and that the shoot-out lasted for about three hours, ending at dawn today.
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 quoted security sources as saying the militants were on the verge of launching unspecified attacks.
An Interior Ministry statement said the seven were linked to the "deviant group" - a label used by authorities to describe supporters of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
Islamist activists allied to the al-Qaeda group have been waging a violent campaign aimed at toppling the US-backed monarchy, which is also the world's biggest oil exporter, and expelling Westerners from the birthplace of Islam.