5 OFWs wounded in Saudi shootout; Saudi forces kill terrorist suspects after siege

5 OFWs wounded in Saudi shootout

Five Filipino overseas workers were wounded after unidentified armed men shot at their service van in a suburb in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday.

ABS-CBN Middle East Bureau chief Dindo Amparo identified two of the victims as Rodel Canlas Miranda and Jimmy Mayo Pastor. The two were rushed to the National Guard Hospital in Riyadh.

Embassy officials have yet to identify the three remaining victims who were rushed to another hopsital.

The victims were on board a service van together with other OFWs at 6 a.m. when they were hit by a volley of gunfire from an unidentified armed group.

Reports said the incident may have been a part of a shoot out between Saudi military and rebel troops in the affluent al-Hamra district of east Riyadh.

Al Qaeda suicide bombers attacked the world's largest oil processing plant in Abqaiq on Friday, in the first direct strike on a Saudi energy target since al Qaeda launched attacks aimed at toppling the US-allied monarchy in 2003. With a report from Reuters

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Saudi forces kill terrorist suspects after siege

RIYADH - Saudi forces on Monday killed five suspected militants believed to be linked to an al Qaeda attack on the world's biggest oil processing plant, the interior ministry said.

A shootout erupted at dawn after security forces besieged suspects in a villa in east Riyadh where several Western residential compounds are located.

An official statement said five men were killed and one other suspected militant was arrested elsewhere in the capital.

"Early this morning security forces stormed a building in east Riyadh which a criminal gang was using as a center for attacks and corruption," it said. "All five were killed after an intense exchange of fire."

The shootout took place days after al Qaeda suicide bombers tried to storm the Abqaiq oil facility in the first direct strike on a Saudi energy target since the militant group launched attacks aimed at toppling the US-allied monarchy in 2003. The kingdom is the world's biggest oil exporter.

The men were hiding in a villa in a newly-developed residential district near the al-Hamra area where several Western housing compounds are located, security sources said.

Security sources said police had tracked down the militants after pursuing two vehicles that appeared on the surveillance video of the Abqaiq facility shortly before it was attacked.

One source said the men were also traced through Internet monitoring. An Internet statement issued at the weekend said al Qaeda was behind the Abqaiq attack.

Qaeda weakened

The Saudi wing of Osama bin Laden's network has been weakened by a government crackdown in which its leaders have either been killed or arrested.

Witnesses in Riyadh said they heard the sound of heavy gunfire and what appeared to be mortars as security forces surrounded the suburb and sealed it off before dawn.

"Around the time of dawn prayers, we heard the sound of shots and saw the sky light up. Then a short time later there were heavy explosions," journalist Odwan al-Ahmar, who lives in the area, told Reuters. The clashes trapped about two dozen worshippers in a mosque, he said.

The shoot-out ended after two hours with the deaths of all of the men inside the building, the security sources said.

The Abqaiq strike was the first major attack by militants opposed to the Saudi monarchy since suicide bombers tried to storm the Interior Ministry in Riyadh in December 2004.

Authorities say two of the bombers were on a list of top wanted al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants issued last year. Al Qaeda had previously identified them in an Internet statement posted on Saturday and vowed more attacks.

An Interior Ministry statement said the suicide bombers in Abqaiq had used two tonnes (4,400 lb) of explosives in their foiled attack, which caused a huge explosion at the gate of the facility.

Security analyst Faris bin Houzam said only four of the 36 suspects on a most wanted list remained at large in Saudi Arabia. He said many of those on the list were believed to have joined insurgents fighting in Iraq and some may be dead.

The men killed on Monday have not yet been identified.

"This is not a new generation," he said, referring to the latest incidents. "It's clear that these are people the security forces have been tracking over the past two years." Reuters