(Bloomberg) -- Two suspected al-Qaeda militants killed in a gunfight in Saudi Arabia this week were planning to stage a terrorist attack, the Interior Ministry said. The militants, who were wearing vests packed with explosives, entered Saudi Arabia from neighboring Yemen to carry out "an imminent criminal act," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. It gave no details of the possible target.
A third militant was arrested, while a police official was killed during the firefight that took place Oct. 13 in Jizan province near the country's southern border with Yemen, the ministry said. Two of the suspects were wearing women's clothes. They and their accomplice were traveling in a vehicle with grenades, automatic weapons and bomb-making materials.
Al-Qaeda in August launched an assassination attempt on the country's top internal security official from its base in Yemen, which is the poorest Arab nation and has weak central government control.
Saudi authorities detained six Yemenis in the aftermath of the incident, the Interior Ministry said.