RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi security forces foiled a planned terrorist attack in the capital Tuesday, killing two militants and seizing a car bomb ready for detonation on the first day of festivities marking the end of Ramadan, the government said.
Security agents clashed with the suspected militants in Riyadh at noon Tuesday, the first day of the three-day Eid al-Fitr (search) holiday, and seized the explosive-laden car, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Two militants were killed, and authorities were trying to determine their identities and those of other possible accomplices, it said.
The seized vehicle was "readied to explode," the statement said.
Saudi Arabia has been hit by major attacks during the past seven months. Seventeen people were killed in a homicide bombing at a housing compound in the capital on Nov. 8, and in May, homicide bombings at three housing compounds in Riyadh (search) left 35 dead, including 9 homicide bombers.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef said earlier this month that Al Qaeda (search) terrorist group was suspected of involvement in the attacks.
Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, said those behing the car bomb plot "want to turn Saudi Arabia into a Taliban society."
"The fact that these terrorists would try to kill innocent people on the first day of the Eid, a time of religious celebration, shows again that they have no moral principles or respect for Islamic values," he said.
"We are hunting down the terrorists and flushing them from their hiding places. There is no safe place for Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia," he said.
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