Three wanted Saudis killed in confrontations in Riyadh

Three wanted Saudis were killed in violent confrontations that erupted yesterday at dawn with the Saudi police who were carrying out a breaking in operation into one house to the east of the capital, Riyadh.

The Saudi ministry of the interior said that seven security officers were injured slightly in the clashes.

The spokesman for the security forces in the ministry of the interior, Maj. Gen. Mansour Turkey, said that the ministry is trying to know the identity of the killed persons, noting that the security forces broke into a building in al-Nahda quarters to the east of Riyadh early morning on Tuesday and killed the gunmen inside it.

The security forces also released seven women and children in the house and it was not clear if they were members of the families of the killed.

Other sources said that the clashes took place after a group including four men in a car refused, juts one kilometer from al-Sader residential complex, to abide by the orders of the police men to stop.

A police man in the place said the gunmen used mortars. Al-Sader complex which includes 279 villas, was exposed on October 3, 2004 to an attack during which two persons threw a mortar which resulted in no casualties. The two attackers were able then to flee.

Saudi Arabia is struggling against a wave of violence al-Qaida organization is accused of igniting since May 2003, when three residential complexes in Riyadh were exposed to suicide explosions that resulted in killing 35 persons. In all, 160 persons were killed since then including Saudis, foreigners, security forces and extremists.