Two blow themselves up in holy city of Mecca

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Two suspected militants blew themselves up Thursday in the holy city of Mecca when security forces tried to arrest them, while a third was shot to death by police during a raid in Riyadh, officials said.

The two who died in Mecca likely belonged to a terror cell that had clashed with Saudi police Monday, a security official said. That cell had been linked to al-Qaida, the terrorist network blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks and for a string of suicide bombings in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in May.

Earlier Thursday, Saudi police shot it out with suspected terrorists in Riyadh, leaving one suspect dead and eight policemen injured, an Interior Ministry official said.

Several militants were captured after the Riyadh shootout, a police officer on the scene told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. Several more militants escaped in cars, a neighbor said.

About 600 suspects have been arrested and more than a dozen killed in a crackdown since the May 12 suicide bombings of Western residential compounds in Riyadh in which 25 people and the nine assailants died. Saudi authorities have said some of those detained are linked to al-Qaida. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 suicide hijackers were Saudi, and al-Qaida is led by Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden.

The latest clashes come during one of the most sacred periods for Muslims, the month of Ramadan. Muslims believe their holy book, the Quran, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during a Ramadan 1,400 years ago.

Mecca, birthplace of Muhammad, also has great significance for Muslims. Starting in mid-November — the last 10 days of Ramadan — some 2 million Muslims are expected to perform the "omra," or minor pilgrimage, to Mecca.

The legitimacy of Saudi rulers rests partly on their custodianship of Mecca, which is off-limits to non-Muslims. A strike on Mecca could be seen as a strike on the regime.

On Monday, Saudi police killed two al-Qaida suspects and arrested five militants, including four Saudis and one Nigerian, in a shootout in Mecca, according to a new Interior Ministry update. The ministry had said earlier six were arrested.

The official Saudi Press Agency on Wednesday quoted an Interior Ministry official as saying that the weapons and explosives seized in Monday's raid could have endangered pilgrims in Mecca.