Truck bomb seized by Saudis in raid on militants

SAUDI ARABIA’S security forces found a pick-up truck packed with more than a ton of explosives when they raided a militant cell primed to launch a “terrorist operation” in Riyadh, officials said yesterday.

State television showed footage of the truck, seized after a clash on Tuesday in which two wanted militants were killed, filled with the explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and gas cylinders to magnify the force of any explosion.

Officials say Tuesday’s raid by security forces thwarted an imminent attack during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, less than three weeks after suspected al-Qaida bombers killed at least 18 people in a residential compound in the Saudi capital.

An Interior Ministry source said the truck had 2,790 lbs of ammonium nitrate-based explosives in the back when it was seized. A further a 3,036 lbs of explosives was found nearby, along with more than a thousand rounds of ammunition.

Television footage showed a pick-up truck, painted dark brown and marked with military insignia. Authorities also showed what they said were forged emblems of State security agencies, and military uniforms. Witnesses have said the attackers who struck on November 9 at the Muhaya compound on Riyadh’s eastern desert outskirts got through a Saudi National Guard checkpoint because their vehicle had military markings.

The two men killed on Tuesday were Abdul-Mohsen Abdul-Aziz al-Shebanat and Musaid Mohammed Daidan al-Subaie, the Interior Ministry said. Shebanat was shot and killed as he fired at security forces from the boot of a car while Subaie blew himself up with a hand grenade, it said. Shebanat’s corpse and Subaie’s mangled remains were shown on television.

Security forces were still hunting down an unspecified number of militants who escaped.