June 2, 2003	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 1, 1424

DUBAI, June 1: Two Saudi security officers were killed and three others wounded in an exchange of fire at a security checkpoint in Saudi Arabia, a Saudi newspaper reported on Sunday.

The incident took place in Turbah town in the Hael area, in northern Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening when two people sped away in their car after security officers asked them to show some identification, reported Al Watan newspaper.

Security officers gave chase. An exchange of fire with machine guns ensued in which the two officers and one of the men in the car were killed, said the ruler of the area, Prince Saud bin Abdulmihsin.

The men have not been formally identified but a Saudi security official told the paper that one of the men in the car was identified as Abdullah Sulaiman al-Ajlan, who is wanted by Saudi authorities, but the other person covered his face with a scarf and could not be identified.

He added that the two men hurled a hand-grenade at the security officers killing them at once and opened fire at another police patrol that had rushed to the scene injuring three security men, one of them critically.—dpa