Saudi Arabia said it foiled a car bombing in Riyadh on Tuesday when security forces shot dead two "terrorists" it said was on the verge of launching an attack.
The thwarted strike on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday followed a devastating wave of bombings in Saudi Arabia and Muslim Turkey in the holy month of Ramadan blamed on the militant al-Qaeda network.
State television quoted an Interior Ministry official as saying the shootout occurred at around noon as the "terror operation ... was about to be carried out."
The security forces killed two unidentified men and seized a "vehicle which was primed for explosion," it said.
It gave no further details, but Riyadh residents said they heard gunfire shortly after 3pm in the northeast of the city, an area housing several expatriate compounds. Some said the shooting followed a car chase.
Police cars were seen blocking off at least one road in the area by mid-afternoon.
Suspected al-Qaeda bombers killed at least 18 people at a compound on Riyadh's desert outskirts just over two weeks ago. In May, triple suicide bombings killed 35 people in the capital.
The attacks have prompted a heavy security crackdown in Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam and birthplace of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Analysts had said they feared further violence at the end of Ramadan.
In Washington, Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, said the police action showed "there is no safe place for al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia."
"We are hunting down the terrorists and flushing them from their hiding places. God willing, we will continue to find them and bring them to harsh justice," he said in a statement.
Bandar said the attempted attack during a Muslim celebration showed the militants had no morals.
"Their aim is to take away our security and take over the state. Instead of progress and reform, they want to turn Saudi Arabia into a Taliban society. But they will not succeed," he said.
Security in the holy city of Mecca has been tightened to prevent attacks on pilgrims after authorities clashed with gunmen twice this month and uncovered a cache of weapons and explosives.
Protection around many expatriate compounds in the capital, already guarded by machine guns, razor wire and forces from Saudi Arabia's National Guard, was also raised even higher.
King Fahd appealed on Monday for all Muslims to unite against terrorism.
His message was echoed by Saudi Arabia's top religious authority, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, who said the militants were threatening the country's stability.
"Today we are in dire need of unifying our ranks and voices and supporting our leadership against those who threaten our religion, security, resources and stability," he said on Tuesday.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the