Two Suspected Militants Commit Suicide in Mecca
Two suspected militants blew themselves up in the holy city of Mecca on Thursday, apparently to avoid arrest, hours after a third suspect had been killed in a shootout with security forces in Riyadh, Saudi officials said.
It was the second day this week of confrontations between militants and police and the latest clash in a nationwide security crackdown set off by May 12 suicide car bombings at Western compounds in Riyadh, the capital.
About 600 suspects believed to be linked to the Al Qaeda terrorist network have been arrested since those attacks, which killed 35 people, including the nine attackers.
The two who killed themselves in Mecca detonated explosives when security forces closed in to arrest them, a security official said.
They probably belonged to a terrorist cell that clashed with Saudi police in Mecca on Monday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. That cell had been linked to Al Qaeda.
Earlier Thursday, Saudi police clashed with suspected terrorists on a Riyadh street. An Interior Ministry official said one suspect was killed and eight policemen were hurt. Several militants were captured afterward, a police officer at the scene said. Several more escaped, a resident said.
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