Saudi forces arrest suspected militants

Saudi security forces have arrested four suspected militants in operations in Riyadh and a village outside the capital, an Interior Ministry spokesman said today.

Brigadier General Mansour al-Turki said all four men were arrested before dawn yesterday. Two of them were detained in Temair.

“The men did not resist arrest,” Mr al-Turki said of those two, adding they were arrested at different locations in the village.

Mr al-Turki refused to identify the men but local newspapers gave their names as Mohammed al-Abdullah and Rayess al-Rayess.

Okaz daily newspaper, which is close to the Interior Ministry, said al-Abdullah works as a teacher and was arrested in a mountainous area. The paper said al-Rayess was fleeing in a red car when he was arrested.

Mr al-Turki said the two other men were arrested in the Khaleej neighbourhood of Riyadh.

Those two men opened fire at security officers, he said, and one of the officers returned fire, slightly wounding one of the suspected militants.

The arrests were part of a crackdown on militants begun by the Saudi government after al-Qaida-affiliated operatives attacked three residential compounds in Riyadh in May 2003.

Several more attacks followed and a number of Westerners have been killed.

Since the start of the campaign, which includes public appeals to youths to avoid a militant path, the government has killed or captured many senior militants.

Last week a clash killed three suspected militants, including one identified as Abdul-Majeed Mohammed Abdullah al-Moneea, No 18 on Saudi Arabia’s list of 26 most-wanted terror suspects.

He was believed to have been a member of an al-Qaida-affiliated group involved in killings, recruiting and issuing religious edicts sanctioning killings.

Despite the progress, officials say the threat remains that al-Qaida operatives in Saudi Arabia could strike again.