RIYADH, March 16: A Yemeni militant killed in a shootout with Saudi security forces was Al Qaeda's head of operations for Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf, Saudi security sources said on Tuesday.

"Yemeni Khaled Ali bin Haj, who was killed in Riyadh, was responsible for Al-Qaeda operations in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region," a source said. "He is suspected of having ordered the attacks in Riyadh" which killed 52 people in May and November 2003, another source said.

Saudi's interior ministry earlier confirmed that Khaled was killed on Monday along with Saudi Ibrahim bin Abdul Aziz bin Mohammed Al-Mazini when police shot back at them after they had opened fire on security men when ordered to stop the jeep in which they were travelling.

Police also seized an arms cache, including two Kalashnikov rifles, 10 magazines, six grenades, three revolvgrs and 516,000 riyals from their vehicle, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. Khaled ranked third on a 26-strong list of most wanted suspected militants. -AFP