SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia, reeling from suicide bombings that killed 35 people last month, said yesterday that several suspected "terrorists" had been killed and others arrested in a shoot-out in the holy city of Mecca.State-owned television said the men had been plotting an "imminent terrorist attack".
Saudi official sources said they were also wanted for other crimes, but declined to say if they were linked to al-Qaeda, which has been blamed for the Riyadh bombings.
The broadcast said five "terrorists" and two policemen were killed in clashes after police raided an apartment building in the middle class al-Khalidiya district on Saturday evening. It quoted an interior ministry source saying the apartment was rigged with explosives and that police found 72 home-made bombs, machine guns, ammunition, communication devices and chemical substances used for making explosives.
"Security forces at 21:30 on Saturday night raided a group of terrorists living in an apartment ... in Mecca who were planning an imminent terrorist attack," the station quoted the source as saying.
Five people were arrested - two Chad nationals, one Egyptian, one Saudi and a fifth whose nationality was not known - in addition to several other suspects, the broadcast said.The Okaz daily had earlier reported that five suspects were killed and seven arrested. Five policemen were killed and five wounded.
An Indian migrant worker who lives in the area said he was shot at overnight by three men who tried to take his car, in an apparently related incident.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, last week named 12 nationals it said were the suicide bombers who carried out the triple attacks on residential compounds. - (Reuters)