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June 23, 2006
Saudi Arabia: Six Islamists Killed in Capital
Today, the Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry announced that six Islamists had been killed in a shootout in the Al-Nakhil suburb of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, states Reuters via Swiss Info and the BBC. The Interior Ministry, quoted on Al Arabiya TV, said that the six militants were plotting an imminent attack.
A ministry spokesman told Agence France Presse: "The security forces at dawn Friday pursued seven members of the 'deviant minority' to a house in the al-Nakhil district of Riyadh, where they suddenly came under sustained automatic weapons fire".
The police had surrounded the house, and helicopters circled above the house, and the residential suburb was cordoned off. The shoot-out lasted three hours.
A resident said: "At around 2 a.m. (2300 GMT), we were sleeping downstairs and suddenly the security forces knocked on the door and warned us and put us in a safe place. We heard gunshots exchanged so we knew there were some terrorists who tried to attack in a house next to ours."
A policeman was killed in the gun battle, and one militant was wounded.
After the earlier statement that an attack was forthcoming from the group, Mansour al-Turki, a spokesperson from the ministry, said: "We are still investigating the wounded person and this may take some time ... but there is no firm information at this point that proves they had a plan ready to implement."
"We were following them in order to arrest and investigate them but they didn't give us the chance," al-Turki said.
SInce the Saudi authorities began a campaign against Al Qaeda operatives in May 2003, 150 foreigners, Saudis and security members have been killed in raids and police gun battles. About 130 militants have been killed.
At the end of March about 40 suspected Islamic militants were arrested in raids across the kingdom. The raids followed the 24 February attempted suicide bombing at the Abqaiq (Buqaiq) oil refinery, the largest in the kingdom. On February 27, five suspects militants, apparentl linked to the Abqaiq attack, were killed in a shootout.
On March 29, Saudi authorities announced they had foiled a subsequent similar assault to that attempted at Abqaiq refinery. Two car bombs had been discovered in the al-Mantar area of Abqaib.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 23, 2006 8:39 PM
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