Two suspected Al Qaeda militants blew themselves up on Saturday after being trapped inside a government building in southern Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry said, following an attack on a border post with Yemen that also killed four security men.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said the pair were part of a group of six Al Qaeda militants who attacked the Wadia border post on Friday from Yemen. Three of the militants were killed on Friday and a fourth was captured after being injured.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has long viewed its 1,800km border with impoverished, conflict-ridden Yemen as a major security problem and has been building a fence to deter militants and criminals.
| But fences don't work. The Democrats tell us that all the time... |
Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Al Turki said security forces surrounded the two men in the second floor of the local intelligence service building in Al Sharurah area after they had forced their way into the building on Friday. They were invited to surrender.
| "Throw yer rods in the dirt and git yer mitts in da air, or its coitains for youse guys!" |
“At an early hour this morning... the two attackers resorted to blowing themselves up,” Turki said in remarks carried by state news SPA.
| "You'll never take us alive, flatfeet!" |
Saudi-owned Al Arabia television earlier reported that the militants had put up “stiff resistance” to security forces surrounding them, firing automatic weapons and hurling grenades at security forces, but there were no reports of casualties.
| Typical for that part of the world... |
Turki said Friday’s attack began when six militants in a car with licence plates from an unspecified Gulf Arab country arrived at the Wadia checkpoint in the Empty Quarter desert area, which links Yemen’s Hadramout province with Saudi Arabia.
The militants shot and killed the commander of a Saudi border patrol and seized his car. They made their way inside Saudi territory towards Al Sharurah. Security forces engaged the militants in the second car, killing three and capturing the fourth. The militants also killed two other security men during the clash, Turki said.
Saudi media had earlier said the six were all Saudi nationals. Turki said authorities were conducting tests to determine the identities of the militants. |