Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The Daesh (so called IS) terrorists, who were busted by the Interior Ministry on Wednesday, chose their hideout in a location in the midst of bustling city life for their devilish acts in order to hoodwink the security forces.

However, security forces saw through their tricks and foiled their plans with a preemptive strike on their hideout in the capital city. Saudi Gazette toured the rest house in Riyadh’s Al Rimal district, which was used by the Daesh terrorists as a factory to manufacture explosive belts and devices.

Several residents living adjacent to the hideout said that the terrorists chose the rest house located among a number of rest houses where young people used to gather in the evening, especially on weekends, so as to deceive the security forces.

The security forces on Wednesday killed two members of the Daesh cell, arrested five others during a raid on three locations. A Daesh suicide bomber blew himself up in Al-Rimal district was among the two killed. The gunman who had refused to surrender to the security forces was the other person killed. Security forces seized in the operation Kalashnikov rifles, live ammunition and chemicals used in the manufacture of explosives.

The suicide bomber blew himself up by triggering an explosive belt when he was trapped in the area. Shreds of flesh were scattered in the rest house. The explosion ignited a fire in this rest house and also in a neighboring one.

Speaking to Saudi Gazette, many residents in the locality said that they did not notice any suspicious activity from the rest house that the terrorists had used as their hideout. One eyewitness, who rented a nearby rest house for an annual amount of SR25,000, said that he did not find any instances of terrorist activities in the locality. “If I had any clue about it, I would have informed the concerned security authorities about it without any delay.”

He said that the security forces surrounded the neighborhood before Duhr prayer on Wednesday. “By around 1 p.m. some security men knocked on the doors of the nearby rest houses and asked the occupants to stay inside their rest houses and not to leave the premises. Then, we heard the security forces asking the terrorist to surrender but he started firing at the security men, who returned fire and this was followed by a huge explosion,” he said.

“The local residents later found out that the terrorist was wearing suicide belts and the rest house was turned into a factory of explosive belts and it exploded and caught fire following the exchange of fire. The explosion resulted in the death of the terrorist and inflicted heavy damage to the rest house besides leaving a car burning.”