Saudi police, insurgents in gun battle
Saudi security forces and insurgents fighting against the country’s monarchic government in the northern town of Unaiza have fired on each other.
Brigadier Mansur al-Turki told journalists early on Wednesday that his troops had laid siege to a house in the al-Qasim region, 370km north of the capital Riyadh.
He said that security forces were “facing heavy fire from [people hiding] inside the house.”
Witnesses said a shootout started around 10:45pm (1945 GMT) local time on Tuesday as security forces raided a house in the Ashrafya quarter in Unaiza.
Although al-Turki could not provide information about casualties “until the picture becomes clearer”, other security sources suggested that two security officers had been wounded.
Saudi Arabia is fighting a fierce battle against various factions seeking major political change in the oil-rich desert kingdom.
Some 90 people have died and hundreds more wounded since May 2003.