Saudi government foils ‘terrorist’ attack

THE Saudi government yesterday said it foiled “an imminent terrorist” attack with an overnight raid on a bomb-filled, booby-trapped apartment in the holy city of Mecca that left five suspects and two security agents dead.

It was not clear whether the raid was linked to Saudi Arabia’s crackdown since suicide bomb attacks on May 12 targeting Western residential compounds in the capital Riyadh.

The attacks, blamed on al-Qaida, killed 26 people, including nine Americans. Nine Saudi attackers also died.