Al-Qaida leader killed in Saudi shoot-out

SAUDI ARABIAN security forces stormed a hospital housing complex on Tuesday night, shooting their way through doors and killing three Islamic militants.

One of the dead was said to be an al-Qaida leader linked by the FBI to possible terror threats against the United States.

At least one security officer was killed in the shoot-out that ended after several hours in Jizan, 600 miles south of the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

When reporters entered the building yesterday, they saw internal doors had been shot through, a lot of blood on the floors and staircase as well as shards of glass and bullet cartridges. Tear gas fumes were still strong more than 18 hours afterwards.

The official Saudi Press Agency said one of the men killed was Zubayr al-Rimi, 29, whom the FBI have linked to US terror threats.

His name also appears on a Saudi list of militants connected to suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed 25 bystanders in May, according to a Saudi Interior Ministry official.

A US official described al-Rimi as the chief deputy of the former top al-Qaida man in Saudi Arabia.

The police raid was intended to capture militants planning a terror attack, according to an official Saudi statement.

Details of the firefight were sketchy, as news often is in this kingdom whose rulers keep a tight lid on the press.

Security officials initially said the gunmen had taken several foreign hostages at King Fahd Hospital. The Interior Ministry statement and later television reports did not mention hostages, but Al-Jazeera television’s website said all hostages were released.

The building where the militants were apparently holed up is part of a housing complex for the hospital’s employees, the ministry said.