TheCable

A Saudi policeman was shot dead in the holy city of Mecca, hours after four terror suspects were killed during a raid on Friday.

Atthe al-Qurashi, the media spokesman for Mecca’s regional police department, said the policeman was killed by an unidentified gunman while performing his duties on Thursday evening.

Almost 12 hours earlier, Saudi security forces had killed two suspected militants in a police raid on what the Saudi interior ministry described as a “terrorist hotbed.

“Two others blew themselves up,” he said.

“The four were suspected of having links to the Islamic State extremist militia and were wanted by the authorities.”

In recent months, Saudi authorities have carried out a series of crackdowns on people suspected of having connections with Islamic State.

The militant group has claimed responsibility for several bomb attacks in the oil-rich kingdom in recent years.

The bombings mainly targeted Saudi Arabia’s Shiite Muslim minority whom the radical Sunni group regards as heretics.