Mohammed Al-Sulami

JEDDAH: Two wanted fugitive terrorists killed in a shoot-out in Dammam this week had been planning an attack with a car bomb, Saudi state security chiefs revealed on Sunday.

Ahmed Abdullah Saeed Suwaid and Abdullah Hussein Saeed Al-Nimr, both Saudis, were shot dead after they opened fire on security forces who surrounded them in the city’s upmarket residential neighborhood of Al-Anoud.

The security forces had cordoned off the area in the northeast of the city for three days before the shootout on Dec. 25.

A spokesman for the Presidency of State Security said on Sunday: “As a result of tracing terrorist activities, the relevant authority in the presidency found indications that there were arrangements to carry out an imminent terrorist operation, in which the terrorists in charge used a vehicle they were preparing with explosives.

“The vehicle tracked down was a Ford car driven by terrorists on King Saud Street in Dammam on Wednesday.

“When the terrorists were asked to surrender, they started shooting at the security men and barricaded themselves behind a building. This prompted the security forces to deal with them as the situation entailed neutralizing their danger, which resulted in their killing.”

The security operation resulted in the arrest of a third terrorist, whose identity is being withheld while investigations continue.

Security forces found 5kg of paste in the terrorists’ car. The results of preliminary tests showed that it was RDX, an explosive similar to Semtex developed in the UK in the 1930s. RDX has been used in several terrorist attacks, including the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, the 2010 Moscow Metro bombings and the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut in 2005.

The spokesman said security forces also seized a machine gun, two pistols, live ammunition and cash. The Presidency of State Security will continue to track down criminals who, supported by foreign enemies, seek to undermine the security and stability of Saudi Arabia, its citizens and residents, the spokesman said.