Riyadh, Aug 13: Security forces shot dead a Saudi extremist suspected of links with the al-Qaeda network and arrested seven others after a shootout in Riyadh in which three security men were also killed, a top interior ministry official said today. Security forces raided a villa under construction in the al-Suwaidi residential district in the south of the capital and detained seven gunmen holed up there, the official said yesterday on condition of anonymity.
The seven are suspected of being linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror organization. One of them was seriously wounded in a shootout with the security forces, he said. An eighth suspect was shot dead, while another 10 presumed extremists fled from a rest house in the area during the shootout.
Three members of the special security forces were killed when they came under fire from the gunmen after besieging the villa, the official added. A number of people were also rounded up near the scene of the raid for questioning, he said. Bureau Report