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JEDDAH, June 2: Saudi security forces killed two terror suspects on Wednesday after a hunt through mountains near Makkah, police told AFP. One of them was among the most wanted "terrorists" in the kingdom, said a police official in the western province of Taif.
Security forces came under fire Tuesday evening in Al-Hada area of Taif province, 50km from Makkah, and set off in pursuit backed by a police helicopter. The incident came as Saudi security forces were hunting for three gunmen who attacked a residential compound in the eastern oil city of Al-Khobar and took hostages in a weekend of carnage that left 22 people dead and 25 others wounded.
Al Qaeda purportedly claimed responsibility for the bloody attacks. The Dubai-based satellite television Al-Arabiya said the pair shot dead on Wednesday were Al Qaeda gunmen, one of them disguised as a woman, who were first stopped at a road block.
CHARITY GROUP: US and Saudi officials on Wednesday moved to block the assets of a Saudi charity they believe channelled funds to Al Qaeda and other militant groups.
Saudi Arabia also announced it would dissolve the Al Haramain charity's Riyadh office and fold its assets, and those of other Saudi charitable groups, into a new Saudi entity that will channel all such contributions overseas.
Specifically, the assets of Al Haramain's branches in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and the Netherlands would be blocked, Saudi and US officials said. -AFP/Reuters
