Qaeda-linked militants equipped with explosives vests and hand grenades and a Saudi policeman were killed in a shootout at a checkpoint in the south of the Kingdom Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said. A third militant was captured after the early morning clash which took place at Hamra checkpoint, more than 100 km from the border with Yemen, Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman of the Interior Ministry, was quoted as saying. Sources identified the killed policeman, who died on the spot, as 30-year-old Amer Ahmad Al-Shuwaish, father of two, from the Oukas village, west of Abha. The family was notified of his death at 8:30 AM, said his cousin Muhammad Al-Shuwaish. With the death of Shuwaish, the number of security men who died fighting terrorism has now climbed to 79. Sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the suspects, who were driving a black GMC with Saudi plates, were below 25 years of age and “most likely they were coming from Yemen.” At least two of them were on the Interior Ministry's list of 85 wanted terrorism suspects. According to Al-Turki, the men belonged to the “deviant group (Al-Qaeda)” and had explosive belts, automatic weapons, grenades and material suspected to be ingredients for explosives, SPA reported. Another policeman was slightly injured in the clash, according to Al-Turki. Two of the three suspects, who had been on board a vehicle, were wearing women's clothing and wore explosives vests and carried grenades, he said. “More grenades, automatic weapons and bomb-making materials” were also found in the vehicle, he added. The shooting broke out when their vehicle was about to undergo a security check on the basis of “information on the planning of terrorist acts by the deviant group,” official Saudi phraseology for Al-Qaeda. The spokesman said that when a female inspector wanted to check the identities of two people in the vehicle dressed in women's robes, the suspects began shooting at security forces, who returned fire. He said the hail of bullets resulted in “the deaths of two passengers in the vehicle and the arrest of a third.” The official statement said no other details will be released now because the investigation is ongoing. It was not clear whether the militants were part of Al-Qaida's operations in Yemen. Saudi officials have expressed concern that Al-Qaeda could use Yemen as a sanctuary to launch cross-border attacks after the network's Saudi and Yemeni branches merged in January. The Interior Ministry has spearheaded the Kingdom's aggressive campaign against Al-Qaeda, killing or capturing most of its leaders after a string of attacks that started in 2003.
