Posted on 11/03/2003 5:07:26 AM PST by blam
Two Militants Killed in Mecca Shootout
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Two militants were killed Monday in a shootout with police in the holy city of Mecca, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
Police foiled a terrorist operation "that did not respect the sanctity of holy places and the month of Ramadan" — the holy month of fasting that began days ago, SPA quoted an unnamed Interior Ministry official as saying.
The shootout occurred after police surrounded two buildings in Mecca's al-Share'a neighborhood at 8 a.m. local time, the agency reported.
"The terrorists began shooting heavily at security forces, using automatic rifles and hand grenades," the agency quoted the official as saying
2 al-Qaida Suspects Die in Mecca Shootout
Saudi Police Kill Two al-Qaida Suspects During Shootout in Holy City of Mecca, Seize Arms Cache
The Associated Press
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia Nov. 3 — Police killed two suspected al-Qaida militants during a shootout at their fortified hide-out in the holy city of Mecca on Monday and seized a large cache of weapons, a Saudi Interior Ministry official said. The official said the weapons found and the method the militants used in the confrontation indicate they are sympathizers of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
"They have the same ideology as that of the other groups that have been arrested, the same booby-trapped brains," the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. "There isn't a a terrorist network in the whole world that uses such methods."
Police foiled a terrorist operation "that did not respect the sanctity of holy places and the month of Ramadan" the holy month of fasting that began days ago, the official said.
As a result, the official said, Saudi police will increase security in Mecca, particularly during the last 10 days of Ramadan, when some 2 million Muslims are expected to perform the "omra," or minor pilgrimage, to the city the birthplace of Islam's seventh-century prophet.
The legitimacy of Saudi rulers rests partly on their custodianship of Mecca, which is off-limits to non-Muslims. A strike on Mecca could be seen as a strike on the regime.
The shootout started at 8 a.m. after police surrounded two buildings that the militants had fortified with sandbags in Mecca's al-Share'a neighborhood, the official said. Police had been monitoring the premises for the previous 24 hours.
"The terrorists began shooting heavily at security forces, using automatic rifles and hand grenades," the official said.
While a security forces helicopter hovered, police fired back at the militants as they tried to flee in two cars, hitting one of the vehicles and killing two of its occupants.
A cache of weapons and bombs were found inside the car, the official said.
Inside the buildings, security seized Kalashnikov rifles, hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and material to make explosives. Passports, identification cards and thousands of flyers bearing the picture of bin Laden, a Saudi exile, were also found.
Police are searching for the militants who escaped, the official said. It was not clear how many were at large.
The Interior Ministry official said Monday's raid is in line with a warning by Crown Prince Abdullah to strike the militants and their sympathizers with an iron fist.
"What happened is a warning to all those (militants) and to those who sympathize with them that the government is determined to track them down," the ministry official said.
The government has been cracking down on Islamic militants since the May 12 suicide bombings at foreign housing complexes in Riyadh killed 26 bystanders. Nine attackers also died.
On June 14, a raid on a terror cell plotting attacks in Mecca killed five al-Qaida militants and two security agents. Police also found six dozen bombs and other weapons in the militants' hide-out.
Saudis had reacted angrily to the threats against Mecca the holiest place in Islam, site of the annual pilgrimage that every able-bodied Muslim is required to perform at least once.
More than 200 suspects have been arrested and more than a dozen killed in a series of high-profile police raids since the Riyadh attacks.
The Riyadh bombings also sparked unprecedented public discussion of the role of religion in Saudi society, with some daring to argue that the strict form of Islam preached in the kingdom fostered intolerance and extremism.
Saudi Arabia has been under pressure to crush networks that include al-Qaida, the terror group blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks; 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.
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