Two Saudis shot dead in Dammam were planning ‘terrorist’ attack – state agency

Two Saudi men who were shot dead by security forces in Dammam last week were prepared to carry out an “imminent terrorist operation”, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Sunday.

The two wanted men, Ahmad Abdullah Saeed Suwaid and Abdullah Hussein Saeed Al Nimer, were driving a vehicle laden with explosives, SPA quoted an official spokesman of the Presidency of State Security as saying.

The vehicle, which was being monitored, was on King Saud Street last Wednesday when it was stopped by security forces, with the two occupants requested to surrender themselves.

However, the two men started firing at the police, and in the subsequent shoot-out, the pair was killed.

The security operation also resulted in the arrest of a third person, whose name has not been disclosed since the investigation is underway, the SPA report added.

In total, 5kgs of highly explosive RDX substance was seized, along with a machine gun, two pistols, live ammunition, and an undisclosed sum of money.

The Presidency of the State Security confirmed that it “continues to pursue and track criminal elements who seek to undermine the security and stability of the homeland and its citizens and residents, in response to the dictates of external enemies, stressing that they will not be able to achieve what they seek and plan”, the report stated.

The incident comes even as a Saudi court sentenced a Yemeni man to death for stabbing theatre performers at a concert in Riyadh last month.

The kingdom said the attack, which wounded four, was ordered by Al Qaeda.