Toll Rises as Saudi Standoff Ends
06/04/2005| IslamWeb
Security forces have seized a villa where armed men had barricaded themselves, ending a three-day gun battle in Saudi Arabia in which 14 men were killed.
The confrontation was the longest fight the kingdom has seen in its crackdown on its opponents.
The Interior Ministry said 14 insurgents had been killed and six arrested since Sunday in the desert town of al-Ras, 355km northwest of Riyadh, Saudi journalist Zuhayr al-Harithi told Aljazeera from Jedda.
A security official said forces retook the compound in the town's al-Jawazat district, but gave no details on how.
Once the standoff was over, some forces withdrew, while others combed the compound, looking for booby traps and weapons and collecting documents, the official said. Bombs, weapons and ammunition were found at the villa, al-Harithi said.
The battle began on Sunday morning when security forces, acting on a tip-off, arrived at another building in al-Jawazat.
Al-Harithi said he could not confirm the killing of Salih al-Aufi, al-Qaida chief in Saudi Arabia.
He added that only two out of the list of 26 wanted suspects were still at large.
The Saudi government's opponents say the monarchy is dictatorial, corrupt and beholden to the West, but the monarchy says the insurgents have little support and are trying to create chaos inside the kingdom.
PHOTO CAPTION