Death toll in Saudi border attack rises to 3

RIYADH

The death toll from an attack on a Saudi border patrol near the border with Iraq early Monday morning has risen to three, Saudi authorities have said, noting that four attackers had also been killed in the confrontation.

"At 4:30am, four individuals were spotted trying to infiltrate the Saudi border near the Suweif area in the Arar region," Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

"When border guards moved to intercept them, they opened fire on the troops, prompting the latter to act accordingly," al-Turki said.

"One [infiltrator] was killed and a second detonated an explosive belt he was wearing, killing himself," he added.

"The remaining two fled to the Arar Valley area, but were surrounded by security forces who demanded that they give themselves up," the spokesman said.

He added: "But one blew himself up while the other was shot dead by security forces."

The confrontation, he said, had left three security personnel dead, including Brig. Gen. Oudeh al-Balwi, and two others injured, the spokesman noted.

In an earlier statement, al-Turki said that two Saudi border guards had been killed and a third injured in an attack on their patrol. Local media described al-Balwi as the commander of the border guards in the northern zone.

The attack came only hours after an Iraqi military official told The Anadolu Agency that Iraqi border guards had managed to repel an attack by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) militants on a checkpoint on the border with Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is a member of an international, U.S.-led coalition that has carried out more than 1,200 airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria since last August, according to the joint task force leading the operations.

Along with Saudi, the alliance also includes France, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, among others.

www.aa.com.tr/en