More Shoot Out Killing in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH - June 1 2003 As part of the ongoing
crackdown on Al Qaeeda, Saudi police have killed two Saudi security
men and a suspected terrorist on Saturday night in a shootout
in the northern region of Hail. According to a statement issued
by the Saudi Interior Ministry a gunman was arrested and two
more security men were injured in the clash. The two suspects
had sped away in their car to escape an identity check by the
security forces.They hurled a grenade at security men chasing
them, killing two and wounding two others. The security men caught
up with the suspects, killing one and arresting the other. Saudi
Arabia is gradually assuming the image of a terrorist hotspot
like Palestine, Kashmir or Lebanon a few years.
According to Arab News, the dead man was identified
as Yousuf Saleh Fahd Al-Ayeeri, one of 19 men Saudi authorities
have been hunting since May6 , when they uncovered a cell belonging
to the Al-Qaeda terror network. The arrested suspect identified
himself as Abdullah ibn Ibrahim ibn Abdullah Al-Shabrami, the
ministry statement said, adding that authorities were trying
to verify his identity.
Hail Governor Prince Saud ibn Abdul Mohsen
told Al-Watan newspaper that trouble erupted late Saturday at
a checkpoint in Turba, 200 kilometers from Hail city.Meanwhile,
the ministry yesterday announced the names of the suspects it
arrested in Madinah over the past week.
Those arrested were: Ali Khudair Fahd Al-Khudair,
Ahmed Hamoud Al-Khaledi, Saad Abdul Razak Al-Ghamdi, Turki ibn
Abdul Aziz Al-Fuhaid, Nasir Hamad Al-Fahd, Muhammad Salim Al-Ghamdi,
Hisham Mubarak Al-Hekami, Omar Mubarak Al-Hekami, Majdi Ahmed
Al-Khabrani, and Abdul Monem Ali Al-Ghamdi, all Saudis. They
also arrested two Moroccans — Taleb Ahmed Kareem and Muhammad
Abdul Fattah Muhammad Karam — and three unidentified Arab
women.
Police confiscated 22guns, including Kalashnikov
rifles, three hand grenades, seven boxes of ammunition, dangerous
chemicals, a number of computers, remote control devices and
electricity circuits used for making bombs, forged IDs, and cash.Police
found that the suspects were staying in several villas in Madinah,
where they accumulated weapons, bombs and chemicals and used
surveillance cameras.
In the past week alone Saudi security forces
have arrested dozens of suspected Al-Qaeda sympathizers and operatives
in a Kingdomwide crackdown, including the alleged mastermind
of the Riyadh