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Arab News
  
JEDDAH, Dec 8: Two policemen were killed when gunmen in a building near Al-Ruwais Prison opened fire on a guard post at around 4 p.m. in Jeddah’s Al-Sharafiah neighborhood yesterday, according to the Ministry of Interior.

An undercover police officer at the scene told Arab News that four gunmen were involved in the shooting.

“The shooting started near a mosque next to the prison,” said a security guard at a nearby shopping center. “We heard it while we were inside. There was heavy shooting. We initially thought that a robbery was taking place outside.”

A police source told Arab News that the suspects were possibly attempting to assist in a prison breakout and were later captured when their plan was foiled and they attempted to flee. Arab News tried to contact Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki to confirm this information, but he did not reply. Authorities are expected to issue a statement early this morning.

Police said they pursued four suspects in a dark blue car. Arab News was unable to confirm if these men had fled the incident near the prison. Police fired shots and the car stopped on Palestine Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. A bullet from the officer’s gun shattered a nearby restaurant window, but no injuries or deaths were reported. One of the four suspects fled the vehicle while the others were detained. He was later apprehended near the US Consulate. Police said that the four suspects were unarmed but were wanted for undisclosed reasons.

Soon after the first shooting incident near the prison, police surrounded the nearby building from where the bullets were fired and sealed off the area. About 40 patrol cars and a large number of policemen in plainclothes were at the scene. An eyewitness told Arab News that he saw a stream of police cars on the highway from Makkah speeding toward the crime scene in Jeddah.

Uniformed police officers were being checked to verify their identities before being allowed to enter the cordoned-off zone.

At about 6 p.m., members of the Kingdom’s Special Forces arrived at the scene as helicopters hovered overhead well past dark.

Ambulances and fire trucks gathered outside the building and part of Sitteen Street, a major thoroughfare, was shut off. Traffic was diverted to Palestine Street.

Police ordered all businesses in the area to close. The neighborhood is predominantly residential, working class, and home to a large number of expatriates.

Authorities did not say last night if they suspect these shootings have anything to do with the announcement recently that 136 terrorist suspects have been arrested across the Kingdom since September.

Those arrests took place in Riyadh, Dammam, Makkah, Madinah, Jizan, Qasim, Hail and Al-Jouf over the past two months, an Interior Ministry source said, without identifying the suspects. Police confiscated weapons, foreign currencies, computers and other communication devices and different documents from the arrested militants. “By the grace of God, security forces were able to follow up suspicious movements of people having deviant ideas. They recruited people to travel to troubled areas, provided cover for wanted men and financed their operations that target the nation and its security,” the source said.

The source also pointed out that the arrested suspects had links with foreign groups. “They exploited the Umrah traffic to smuggle in people who were trained abroad.”

Interrogation of the militants led to information about other people related to them.

“We have informed their relatives to contact the nearest security agency or approach the nearest Saudi mission abroad to clarify their stand. Actions will be taken against those who fail to do so, as they will then be considered among the wanted,” the source said.

The security forces carried out the largest operation on Oct. 26 when they arrested 44 militants after simultaneous raids in Riyadh, Eastern Province, Qasim and Hail. “All of them were Saudis who formed an organization which tried to promote their takfiri (branding opponents infidels) ideology,” the source said.

  

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