Saudi security forces shot dead one man and arrested three others in a raid on a suspected militant’s flat in Jiddah on Sunday, officials and witnesses said.
They said a woman was also killed and five policemen were wounded in the early morning clashes at the apartment in the northern part of the Red Sea city. Officials said the woman was apparently a neighbor.
The incident came less than a week after the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia warned of a heightened threat in Jiddah, where militants attacked the U.S. consulate three months ago.
“It was a raid to arrest wanted people classified as terrorists,” said Interior Ministry security spokesman Brig. Gen. Mansour Turki. He said security forces were fired on and may have been attacked with hand grenades.
“The wanted man was arrested after he was injured,” Turki said. “Two of his companions were also arrested and another of his companions was killed.”
Saudi Arabia has been battling al-Qaida militants for nearly two years. Despite recent successes by security forces, diplomats say militants may be planning further attacks in the world’s biggest oil exporter.
Neighbors identified the dead man as Saed al-Youbi. Witnesses saw his bloodied body being carried out of the building after the shooting.
Security sources said the raid took place after Saed’s relative Ibrahim al-Youbi, who was being followed by authorities, arrived in Jiddah and came to his apartment.
Security forces tried to enter around daybreak but came under fire. Reinforcements arrived 30 minutes later and they stormed the building.
Five members of the security forces were wounded, some of them seriously, witnesses who helped transport them to hospital told Reuters.
Battle in birthplace of Islam
Riyadh has vowed to uproot al-Qaida militants who aim to topple Saudi Arabia’s pro-Western monarchy and expel Westerners from the birthplace of Islam.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef has said 90 civilians and 39 members of the security forces have been killed in the last two years, which had also caused around $270 million in damage. Police have killed 92 militants in the same period.
Foreigners in the kingdom receive regular security warnings.
Last month British defense firm BAE Systems, which employs hundreds of Westerners, raised the alarm after saying it had received intelligence of possible militant attacks.
Security sources in Jiddah said late on Saturday they were searching for a car seen circling suspiciously around the U.S. consulate complex. The car had false number plates, they said.
In December, al-Qaida militants stormed the consulate, killing five locally employed staff before they were shot dead by security forces.
