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Four die in Saudi gunbattle
(CNN) -- Three Saudi police officers and a suspected terrorist were killed Tuesday in a gunbattle between security forces and Islamic militants in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, an Interior Ministry official told CNN. Seven terrorist suspects with possible ties to al Qaeda were arrested, the official said. Another 10 suspects fled from a house in the area, sources said. Sources said the security forces arrived in the densely populated al-Suwaidi district of the Saudi capital around noon and immediately sealed it off, with helicopters called in to assist in the manhunt. The shooting lasted several hours. An unknown number of people were wounded in the raid, and it was not immediately clear if any of those hurt were civilians caught in the crossfire, the official said. Authorities have yet to release details about the suspects taken into custody. Saudi authorities have intensified their hunt of terrorists since May, when simultaneous suicide bombings in Riyadh targeted three compounds housing Westerners, killing 23 people, including nine Americans. Twelve other remains were identified as those of the bombers. Saudi authorities have arrested more than 150 suspected terrorists since then. A Saudi official in Washington told reporters Tuesday that 10 people arrested Monday in Saudi Arabia were part of a "major cell" aimed at a British target. He would not specify what that target was, but he said the Saudis briefed British authorities about the plot. A U.S. official confirmed the arrests, saying they came after a shootout a couple of days ago in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. official said materials seized in the raid contained information that showed "an interest in British aircraft." The Saudi official also said the Saudis were involved behind the scenes in the U.S. arrests of several men in Virginia, who U.S. authorities allege are members of a terrorist network. "It was really our work," he said, adding that the Saudis extradited "about four" suspects in that case, all Americans, to the United States about two weeks ago. CNNArabic.com Editor Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.
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