Saudi police hunt gunmen

Police in Saudi Arabia are hunting for a group of 19 suspected militants believed to be hiding in the capital Riyadh, security officials said.

The group were involved in a shoot-out with security forces late on Tuesday evening which erupted as police stormed the "terrorists' lair".

Police uncovered a "large" cache of weapons at the scene including hundreds of kilos of explosives, the interior ministry said in a statement on state TV.

The suspects have been identified as 17 Saudi citizens, a Yemeni and an Iraqi bearing Canadian and Kuwaiti passports.

The statement gave a telephone hotline for members of the public to call to report any information that could lead to the men's capture.

'Attacks planned'

The men are believed to have been planning terror activities within Saudi Arabia.

Television footage from the men's hideout showed bags filled with disguises, including a number of wigs and fake passports and identity cards.

Saudi Arabia was the birthplace of Osama Bin Laden

The weapons haul included 377 kilograms (829 pounds) of explosives, 55 hand grenades and 2,545 bullets of different calibres, the interior ministry said.

It added that the men are believed to be connected with an explosion in Riyadh in March which killed one Saudi man.

Police later said the man had received bomb-making training in Afghanistan, where the al-Qaeda militant network was once based.

Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and 15 of the 19 men suspected of carrying out the 11 September suicide attacks on New York and Washington.

In recent months there have been a number of attacks on Western targets in the conservative kingdom, including a string of shooting attacks against employees of western defence contractors in Saudi Arabia.

Last week a US national working at a Saudi naval base in the north-east of the country was injured when shot by an unknown gunman.