Author:
Publication: CNN News
Date: June 15, 2003
URL: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/06/15/saudi.mecca/index.html
Five suspected terrorists and five
Saudi security officers have been killed in a clash in the Muslim holy
city of Mecca, a government-run Saudi newspaper has reported.
Seven of the suspects were arrested
after police raided their apartment and found weapons, bombs, and other
explosives, the Saudi daily, Okaz, reported on Sunday.
The apartment had been under surveillance
by Saudi authorities, who suspected it was being used by a terrorist cell,
according to the newspaper's editor.
The incident began on Saturday,
the paper said, when one of the suspects -- all traveling in the same vehicle
-- refused to stop his car at the request of a traffic police officer,
and then opened fire on police after they gave chase.
The car carrying the suspects led
police to an apartment building in the Al Khaldiya area of Mecca, where
the shootout is reported to have resumed after police forced residents
to evacuate the building.
The officers killed five of the
men holed up in the apartment, the paper said. Security sources told Okaz
that one of the suspects had strapped explosives to his body, but it was
not clear if he was killed or arrested.
Saudi Arabia's security forces have
cracked down on terror after the May 12 suicide bombings at a housing complex
in Riyadh that killed 35 people, including nine of the suspected perpetrators.
(World outraged)
U.S. and Saudi officials blame the
attacks on the al Qaeda terror network, which has also been blamed for
the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and the bombing of
the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors.
Unofficial sources say Saudi authorities
have arrested several suspects in the bombings, although details have been
sketchy.
