Six suspected militants and two policemen have been killed in a shoot-out at a farm in north-eastern Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Interior has said. Security forces surrounded the alleged militant hideout in al-Qassim province, north of the capital Riyadh, just before dawn on Monday. Four people were arrested on suspicion of hiding the suspects, and large numbers of weapons and explosives seized, officials said. This is the third such operation since Saudi authorities launched a crackdown on suspected militants following May's bomb attacks on Western compounds in Riyadh. The raid on the farm, near the town of Bureida, was said to have been a combined operation between Saudi intelligence and security police. Officers evacuated women and children before asking the men to turn themselves in. When they refused, fighting broke out, with the suspects using guns and hand grenades. One alleged militant and eight policemen were also said to have been injured in the fighting. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Bureidah lies in the Qasim region in the heart of the Arabian peninsula. Buraidah lies equidistant from the Red Sea to the west and the Arabian Gulf to the east.