Saudis kill suspect, confiscate weapons

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi security forces killed a suspected militant in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Saturday and confiscated weapons in his possession, the Saudi Interior Ministry said.

Security forces surrounded the man in his vehicle near the city’s university quarter, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported, quoting an unidentified Interior Ministry official.

The forces shot and killed the man after he tried to throw a hand grenade at them, said the official, who did not identify the suspect.

A search of his car yielded a loaded handgun, two machine guns, ammunition, three high explosive hand grenades, four pipe bombs and communication devices, the report said. Approximately $2,500 were also found in the car, it said.

The Saudi government has been cracking down on militants since a series of al Qaeda-affiliated attacks on residential compounds in May 2003. The attacks killed a number of Westerners.