RIYADH, Aug 26: Saudi security forces arrested 34 suspected militants before laying siege to four gunmen in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Monday, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

The four surrendered after a shootout with security forces, who encircled a building where they were holed up for several hours, ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki told AFP at the time.

In a statement carried by state media, a ministry official said on Saturday “34 people of various nationalities in Makkah, Madina, Riyadh and Jeddah” were arrested several weeks ago.

The 34 belong to “the deviant group” — official terminology for suspected Al-Qaeda militants — and some have ties to prisoners who escaped from a Riyadh jail, he said.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia said in July that seven inmates held for security reasons, including a Yemeni, had escaped from Malaz prison.

The official said that intelligence led security forces to the four involved in Monday’s gunfight, who have links to the 34 arrested and include two Malaz escapees.

The four had turned a flat in the building into “a factory for instruments of death and destruction”, the official said.

Security forces seized weapons, explosives, communications equipment and documents at the site, he added.

No one was killed in the shooting, but the official said the gunmen were hospitalised for unspecified treatment.

He repeated earlier promises that suspects who turn themselves in could expect more lenient treatment, saying their surrender would be “taken into consideration”.

The shootout was the latest in a spate of firefights between security forces and suspected Al Qaeda militants who have launched a series of attacks — many targeting Westerners — since May 2003.

Hundreds of suspects have been detained and successive local Al-Qaeda commanders eliminated by security forces in the past three years.

At least 90 civilians, 55 security personnel and 136 militants have died since the unrest began.—AFP