Saudi says terror suspect caught after shootout in Riyadh

18/11/2002| IslamWeb

A suspected terrorist was wounded and captured after a shootout with police in the Saudi capital, an interior ministry spokesman said."Mohammad al-Sahim, wanted on security charges, tried to flee and shot at security forces who managed to arrest him after shooting him in the right leg," the spokesman said.

He said no policemen were hurt in Saturday's shooting, after an exiled Saudi opposition spokesman told AFP eight policemen were wounded in the firefight in Al-Shifa district, south of Riyadh.

Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, also denied any police were wounded in the several-day hunt for the man who was wanted for terrorism.

Speaking to the Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) television channel, Nayef did not specify if the suspect had links with the al-Qaeda network run by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.

"He is in hospital for the moment and will then be interrogated," the minister said.

Nayef told MBC that reports that thousands of former Arab fighters from Afghanistan were in the kingdom were "exaggerated" and that the arrested suspect was the "only one wanted".

The minister did admit however that non-Saudis were among the Arab fighters. "There are non-Saudis that we question as soon as they are identified before extraditing them," he said.

Saad al-Faqih, spokesman for the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform (MIR), said the shooting broke out as police tried to arrest a group of around 50 "young mujahedeen" armed sympathisers of al-Qaeda who were meeting in a house.

Some of the eight policemen wounded were in serious condition, said Faqih, contacted by telephone in London.

Police launched a manhunt for the remaining suspects who fled, he said.

A witness, questioned by telephone from Dubai, said the clash took place around 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) Sunday.

Some 15 Saudi veterans of fighting in Afghanistan were at the meeting when police launched the raid, said the witness, who described himself as an "Afghan Arab."

PHOTO CAPTION

Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz