Wounded terror suspect dies in Saudi custody

One of Saudi Arabia’s most wanted militants has died in custody after being wounded in a running gun battle in which he killed five policemen, the Interior Ministry said today.

Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Mohammed al-Suwailmi, who was No.7 on the list of the kingdom’s 15 Most Wanted suspects, died late yesterday, bringing to nine the number of people on the list who have been captured or killed.

Police are looking for a second man involved in the gun battles that led to al-Suwailmi’s capture, the ministry statement said.

Yesterday’s violence began when al-Suwailmi fired from a car at a police patrol outside the city of Buraydah, north-west of Riyadh, the ministry said. He killed two policemen.

He then drove 12 miles south-west towards the town of Al-Midhnab, where he encountered a security checkpoint. He opened fire again, killing three more police officers, the ministry said.

Police chased the car and fired at it. Al-Suwailmi was wounded and captured.

In the car, police found six hand-grenades, three Kalashnikov rifles, 17 loaded magazines, five pistols, five faked car registration plates, electronic equipment, jewellery, and about 500,000 Saudi rials (about €104,000), the ministry said.

Al-Suwailmi died later of his wounds, the statement added.

Al-Suwailmi, 23, was involved in recruitment and propaganda for Islamic militant groups, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite television reported.

The Saudi authorities initially reported his death in September, giving al-Suwailmi the pleasure of releasing an audiotape on the internet in which he said he was alive and well. The authorities then said they had mistaken him for his brother, Ahmed, who had just been killed in a shootout with security forces.

The kingdom is waging a campaign against Islamic militants who have staged numerous terror attacks since May 2003, several of them targeting Westerners employed in the oil industry in a bid to cripple the economy.