Two men shot in east Saudi city were driving car bomb, state media reports

The pair were killed in a shootout with police last week

Ahmed Abdullah Suwaid and Abdullah Hussein Al Nimr. SPA via Reuters

Two Saudi men shot dead last week in the eastern city of Dammam were driving a car loaded with explosives and were planning an “imminent terrorist operation”, the state-run Saudi Press agency reported on Sunday.

The two were found with explosive paste in the car, SPA said.

The SPA quoted an official spokesman of the Saudi Presidency of State Security as saying the car was driving on King Saud Street in Dammam last Wednesday when it was stopped and the occupants ordered to leave the vehicles.

The two men then opened fire on police, who responded, killing the pair. The men, both Saudi nationals, were named as Ahmad Abdullah Saeed Suwaid and Abdullah Hussein Saeed Al Nimer. The identity of a third man, who has been arrested as part of the security response, has not been revealed as investigations continue, SPA reported.

Along with the confiscated explosives, a machinegun, two pistols, live ammunition, and an undisclosed amount of cash was found in the vehicle.

The Presidency of State Security said it continues to “pursue and track criminal elements who seek to undermine the security and stability of the homeland and its citizens and residents, in response to the dictates of external enemies.”

Five kilos of paste was taken from the car and found later to contain the explosive RDX, SPA said.

Saudi security forces have foiled a number of plots in recent years by ISIS, Al Qaeda and domestic terrorists.

On Sunday, a court in Riyadh sentenced a Yemeni man to death for a knife attack on performers at a concert in the capital last month that wounded four.

The court also sentenced an accomplice to 12 years and six months in jail for the November 11 attack. The suspects confessed in court to links with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen.

In April, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attempted attack on a domestic intelligence centre in the town of Al Zulfi, a small city about 250 kilometres north of Riyadh.

Security forces killed four men armed with assault weapons, explosives and Molotov cocktails. Three security officers were wounded, officials said at the time.