Riyad, October 14: Saudi authorities killed two suspected Al-Qaeda members carrying explosive vests in a shootout Tuesday, the government said, in a sign the group is plotting new attacks in the kingdom.
A police official was also killed and a third suspect arrested in the firefight near Saudi Arabia’s southern border with Yemen, interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said.
The early-morning shootout took place at a police checkpoint about 120 kilometers (72 miles) from Jizan on the road to Asir in southern Saudi Arabia.
Two of the three men, who had been on board a vehicle, were wearing women’s clothing with explosive vests underneath and carried grenades, according to Turki.
“More grenades, automatic weapons and bomb-making materials” were also found in the vehicle, Turki added.
The shooting broke out when the vehicle was about to undergo a security check on the basis of “information on the planning of terrorist acts by the deviant minority,” said an interior ministry statement, using the standard Saudi phraseology for Al-Qaeda.
Turki said that when a policewoman wanted to check the identities of two people in the vehicle dressed in women’s robes the suspects began shooting at security forces, who returned fire.
He said the hail of bullets resulted in “the deaths of two passengers in the vehicle and the arrest of a third.”
Turki said one police officer was killed and another wounded in the exchange of fire, and added that no further details would be given for the moment “so an inquiry can get under way.”
It was not immediately known if the policewoman was among the casualties.
That attack followed the arrest in Saudi Arabia earlier in August of 44 Al-Qaeda suspects, including one foreigner, and the discovery of arms caches used by the group.
—Agencies