Extremists blow themselves up after gunfight in Jeddah

The two men “committed suicide by detonating their explosive belts” during a security operation against a suspected “terrorist” hideout in a southern district of Jeddah, the region’s authorities said on Twitter.

Powered by automated translation

Riyadh // Two suspects blew themselves up on Saturday during a firefight with security forces in Jeddah.

The two men “committed suicide by detonating their explosive belts” during a security operation against a suspected “terrorist” hideout in a southern district of Jeddah, the region’s authorities said on Twitter.

They did not identify the bombers, but said the raid had been successfully carried out after a shoot-out with the suspects.

The Sabq.org website said Saudi security forces surrounded a house and exchanged fire with the men before they blew themselves up. Sky News Arabia ran a video of an explosion in Jeddah’s eastern Al Harazat district.

Earlier this month, Saudi security forces shot and killed two suspected extremists including an explosive belt maker during a police operation in the north of Riyadh. The belts had been used in suicide attacks including the deadly bombing of a headquarters of the special forces in 2015 and near the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina last July.

At the end of October, authorities said they had foiled a plot to bomb a football stadium in Jeddah during a World Club qualifying match and dismantled two terrorist cells linked to ISIL

And last year, a suicide bomber wounded two people when he blew himself near the US consulate in Jeddah, the first bombing in years to target foreigners in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is a member of the US-led international coalition that has been battling ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

*Agence France-Presse and Reuters