Bangladeshi among 4 killed in Saudi Arabia checkpoint shootout

International Desk: A drive-by shooting against a checkpoint in central Saudi Arabia and an ensuing gunfight on Sunday left a security officer, a Bangladeshi civilian and two attackers dead, the kingdom's interior ministry said.

"A security checkpoint on the Buraydah-Tarfiyah road in Qassim region came under fire from three terrorists riding in a vehicle on Sunday afternoon," the ministry said in a statement.

"Two of the terrorists were killed and a third was wounded and transferred to hospital," it added.

Qassim, a heartland of the kingdom's ultra-conservative Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam, is one of the most conservative pockets of the country. Analysts say many young men from the region have joined al-Qaeda in Yemen or militant groups in Iraq.

Sergeant Suleiman Abdelaziz Abdel Latif was identified as the Saudi fatality. The ministry said a Bangladeshi resident was also killed, but did not give his name.

The authorities said a criminal investigation of the attack has begun.

Four Saudi policemen were killed and four others were wounded on 20 April in an attack targeting a checkpoint in the southwestern province of Asir.

The kingdom has seen numerous attacks against security forces in recent years by militants, including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

It has also seen clashes between Shia militants and security forces in the eastern provinces.

Source: The Express Tribune


risingbd/Dhaka/July 9, 2018/AI