RIYADH, Jan 25: One Kuwaiti died and three Saudis were wounded in a shooting in a town north of Riyadh during a routine security check, a Saudi security official said on Saturday.

The official said Saudi nationals opened fire on policemen on Friday when they went up to their apartment to check their identification papers after they found something suspicious about the documents.

“They (the policemen) became suspicious about the identification papers of the four Saudis and wanted to make an identification. They (the Saudis) were the first to open fire,” the official said.

A Kuwaiti neighbour suffered gunshot wounds when he opened his door on the fight. He died on the way to the hospital. Two policemen and the Saudi landlord of the building were also injured in the shooting.

Authorities are searching for the assailants, who fled the scene, the official said.

An official at Kuwait’s embassy in Saudi Arabia told the official KUNA news agency on Saturday the Kuwaiti victim, Fayez Abdullah Rashid al-Zoabee, 30, was on a private visit to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed bin Abdul-Aziz was quoted by KUNA as saying some of the attackers might be wanted by security authorities or involved in drug smuggling.

The shooting comes the day after Saudi Arabia extradited a Kuwaiti Al Qaeda supporter who confessed to an ambush that killed an American working for the U.S. military in Kuwait and wounded another.

But Prince Ahmed said authorities had no immediate information linking the assailants to any terrorist organizations.—Reuters