2 arrested in Saudi after shootout, bomb belt seized

Riyadh

 Police in Saudi Arabia arrested two suspects and were hunting two others who fled following shootouts and raids that netted a bomb belt, they said on Wednesday.

 The gunfire occurred in separate districts of Riyadh on Tuesday evening as officers pursued an investigation into "deviant groups," the interior ministry said in a statement.

 The term is used to refer to extremists, although the ministry did not specifically mention any group.

 But the raid comes after a series of mosque attacks this year claimed by the Islamic State group that killed dozens of people in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

 Two suspects opened fire and threw a grenade at police trying to arrest them after cordoning off a residential area in Monsia district, the ministry said.

 Ahmed al-Zahrani, 21, and Mohammed al-Zahrani, 19, were detained.

 At the second location, a Saudi coffee lounge in Riyadh's Dharma district, the suspects tried to flee in a vehicle after spotting the police.

 "They then heavily opened fire at the security officers," who returned fire and disabled their vehicle.

 The suspects then "seized a citizen's vehicle by force and took off in it."

 During searches of the two locations, officers found a bomb belt "ready with explosives", a laboratory, several automatic rifles and pistols, ammunition, and "sketches of targeted areas," the ministry said.