RIYADH (AFP) - Three Saudi security men were wounded as security forces came under fire while arresting a wanted Islamic militant in the northwestern city of Tabuk, the interior ministry said.
"Security forces were able to spot a man wanted by security authorities, who is affiliated to the deviant group, inside a building in the city of Tabuk," a ministry official said, quoted by state media.
"When security forces arrived at the site, the wanted man opened fire on them. An exchange of fire ensued, and he was wounded and captured. Three security men also sustained medium injuries in the incident," the official said.
The term "deviant group" is used by authorities to refer to suspected Al-Qaeda extremists blamed for a a spate of bombings and shootings in Saudi Arabia that began in May 2003.
A security source earlier told AFP the captured militant was wanted on security-related charges.
A second wanted militant managed to escape the scene of the clash and was being chased by police, the source said.
Saudi security forces regularly raid hideouts of suspected militants. Many have been killed on both sides during the gunbattles.
Gunmen shot dead a British man in the Saudi capital Riyadh on September 15 in the latest of repeated attacks on Western expatriates in the oil-rich kingdom.
King Fahd in June offered an amnesty to suspected extremists who turned themselves in within a month, portraying it as a last chance for members of the "deviant group" to mend their ways or face a merciless crackdown.
But only six militants gave themselves up, and just one figured on a list of 26 most-wanted extremists. Eleven of them remain at large.
Saudi authorities, who have rounded up hundreds of suspects since the violence erupted, have since renewed their vow to crush the extremists who spurned the pardon offer.
More than 90 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the violence of the past 16 months.