Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Four killed in failed attack on Saudi state security building

Published 04/21/2019, 05:23 PM
Updated 04/21/2019, 05:23 PM
© Reuters.  Four killed in failed attack on Saudi state security building

© Reuters. Four killed in failed attack on Saudi state security building

RIYADH (Reuters) - Four alleged Islamic State militants were killed on Sunday when authorities thwarted an attack on a state security building in Saudi Arabia's central Riyadh province, authorities told state media.

The four had helped carry out the attack at the Mabaheth (domestic intelligence) station in Zulfi, a small city about 250 kms (155 miles) northwest of the capital Riyadh, a spokesman for Saudi state security said.

Three security force members were injured in the attack, the spokesman said, adding that security services were dealing with "explosive materials" and other items left behind during the incident.

Online videos, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed a car at a checkpoint with its doors open and two bloody corpses splayed on the ground nearby. Gunshots could be heard.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said the attackers had been carrying machine guns, bombs and Molotov cocktails.

Islamic State's official news agency Amaq claimed responsibility for the attack in a video later on Sunday in which four masked assailants pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Reuters could not independently verify the claim and authorities did not officially identify the assailants.

Militants have targeted security installations for years in Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, after the authorities crushed an al Qaeda insurgency more than a decade ago.

Last year, a member of the security forces and a Bangladeshi resident were killed in an assault on a security checkpoint in nearby Buraidah, and a policeman was killed in a separate attack in the western city of Taif.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.