Saudi police pounce on 'cell'

People from across the Islamic world descend on Mecca

Police battling the latest wave of Islamic insurgency in Saudi Arabia have reportedly wounded and captured four suspects on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca.

A number of others may have escaped during the gun battle as police moved in on the "armed cell", the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported.

Sunday's raid came within a day of a bloody gun battle at a flat in the city in which two police officers and five suspected militants were killed.

The police raids are believed to have targeted foreign nationals living in the city, which is the main place of pilgrimage for Muslims across the globe.

The four men arrested on Sunday afternoon in the Shumaisi district are all wanted by the authorities, Asharq al-Awsat said.

Saudi officials have confirmed that two police officers died in a gun battle at a flat in Mecca's Khaldia district on Saturday.

Five suspected militants were also killed and an unspecified number arrested, the interior ministry said.

The BBC's Gulf correspondent, Julia Wheeler, reports that security in Saudi Arabia has been high since the suicide bombings in Riyadh in May which left 34 people dead.

Of the suspects arrested on Saturday in Khaldia, two are from Chad, one is Egyptian and another is Saudi, the interior ministry said.

Another paper, Al-Jazirah, said there had been around 30 "terrorists" in the area.

The suspects killed in Khaldia had allegedly been planning an imminent terror attack and were heavily armed with bombs and guns.

One of those arrested was reportedly wearing a suicide bomber's belt.

It is not clear whether this weekend's raids were linked to last month's suicide bombings which prompted about 30 arrests.