RIYADH, Jan 1: One of Saudi Arabia's most wanted militants, Abdullah Saud al-Subaiei, was among three suicide bombers who attacked the interior ministry in Riyadh this week, the ministry said on Saturday.

A ministry statement identified another suicide bomber as Mohammad Mohsen al-Osaimi and said authorities were still trying to establish the identity of the third who carried out a car bomb attack against the ministry on Wednesday.

The statement, cited by the official SPA news agency, also identified the two militants who carried out a simultaneous car bomb attack against a special forces base in the Saudi capital.

Subaiei was on a list of 26 top fugitives issued by Saudi authorities in December 2003.

The statement said he was involved in the attack on the Oasis housing compound in Al-Khobar on May 29, 2004, where "he mutilated the bodies of victims."

Four Westerners were among 22 people killed in the shooting and hostage-taking rampage in Al-Khobar, which was claimed by Al-Qaeda.

Subaiei "participated in preparing the (booby-trapped) car that was used in the attack on Al-Muhaya housing complex" in Riyadh in November 2003, which left 17 people dead, the statement added.

The other two militants who attacked the special security base were identified as Dakheel Abdul Aziz Dakheel Mohammad al-Obeid and Nasser Ali Saad al-Motairi.

The ministry said Obeid was among those who "kidnapped and killed a foreign resident" - an apparent reference to American aeronautics engineer Paul Johnson, who was abducted and beheaded last June by the so-called "Al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula".

The ministry said the remains of the five bombers were found at the sites of the two attacks.

Saudi security forces killed 10 suspected Al-Qaeda militants in two days of clashes in the capital, including a Yemeni thought to be the group's leader in the country, officials said.

Two people on the most-wanted list were among those killed in the shootouts.

There are now only six militants on the list still at large. The others have been either killed or arrested by security forces, and one, a Moroccan, has been detained in Belgium.

The interior ministry said on Friday six security men were slightly wounded in the shootout that killed seven militants just an hour after the car bombings.

The other three militants were killed in a firefight that began late on Tuesday and continued overnight.

Authorities have said no civilians or security men were killed by Wednesday's car bombs, although an unspecified number of people were wounded.-AFP