Policeman, 6 militants killed in Saudi shootout

RIYADH, June 23 (Reuters) Six suspected al Qaeda-linked militants and a policeman were killed in a shootout in the Saudi capital Riyadh today, after police surrounded their house to prevent an imminent attack, Saudi officials said.

Helicopters hovered above, as police cordoned off the upscale residential district, which also houses royal palaces, where the shootout occurred. A seventh militant, who tried to escape, was wounded and arrested.

Security sources said police had been monitoring the group and the shoot-out lasted for about three hours, ending at dawn today.

Saudi state television showed police removing several vehicles from the scene, some of them damaged in the clash, as officers carried away what appeared to be bags of evidence.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television quoted security sources as saying the militants were on the verge of launching unspecified attacks.

An Interior Ministry statement said the seven were linked to the ''deviant group'' -- a label used by authorities to describe supporters of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

''In the early morning hours, security forces pursued the seven members of the group ... to a house in the Nakhil district ... and immediately came under heavy automatic weapons fire,'' the statement said.

''One security man was martyred in the incident and there were some injuries among the ranks of security forces,'' it added.

Islamist activists allied to the al Qaeda group have been waging a violent campaign aimed at toppling the US-backed monarchy, which is also the world's biggest oil exporter, and expelling Westerners from the birthplace of Islam.

Saudi Arabia has said that some prisoners who escaped from a Saudi prison earlier this year could be linked to militants.

Officials say about 150 foreigners and Saudis, including security forces, and 130 militants have died in attacks and clashes with police since May 2003, when al Qaeda suicide bombers hit three Western housing compounds in Riyadh.

In February, they tried to attack the world's largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq, but analysts say that in the face of tough Saudi security policies backed by Western intelligence agencies, the campaign has run out of steam for the moment.

REUTERS SRS KN1934