Saudi security forces arrest 10 al-Qaida organization suspects
Saudi Arabia, Local, 8/12/2003

Saudi Arabia's security sources announced that the police arrested 10 suspected persons following a fire exchange in Riyadh and it had found mortars following the clashes which took place on Sunday and resulted in no casualties.

The police said the detainees were fleeing and is not revealed yet if they have links to the suicide attacks against Riyadh in May or to al-Qaida organization.

However, this clash between the Saudi police and the wanted by the security department is considered the third in less than one month.

Arresting the ten extremists falls in the course of the campaign launched by the Saudi police to arrest persons suspected to planning for terrorist operations, with some of them succeeded in implementing it recently and claimed the life of scores of Saudis and foreigners. The most notable was the Riyadh attack in which 35 persons were killed, including 9 Americans. Then, the Saudi forces arrested more than 200 suspects.

On Sunday evening, a Saudi security patrol was exposed to a fire by unidentified persons to the north of Riyadh after chasing the driver of one car who refused to stop.

In a statement issued yesterday morning, an official source at the Saudi ministry of the interior said that the driver and after being chased stopped at one of the stations and got out of the car and backed by others opened fire randomly.

The source stressed that no one was injured and that investigations are still continuous.

In its yesterday's issue, the Saudi daily al-Watan said that teams from the special emergency and the security sides found two mortars and machine guns and related ammunitions inside the area, noting that the security forces are carrying out mopping up operations in search of the criminals.

Previous Stories:
  Saudi Arabia: Royal pardoning of foreigners accused of Riyadh's explosions   (8/9/2003)
  Eight persons killed in armed clash in Saudi Arabia   (7/29/2003)
  Al-Youm: Prince Nayef and al-Qaida organization   (7/24/2003)

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