BASELESS:

Saudi police kill nine militants (ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI, 4/05/05, Associated Press)

Saudi police have killed nine militants, two of whom are believed to be on a list of most wanted terrorists, officials said Tuesday, as security forces continued a tense standoff in a central Saudi town with heavily armed extremists.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour al-Turki said initial reports indicated nine militants were killed in one of the security force's largest battles with militants, a fight that began Sunday in ar-Rass, 220 miles northwest of the capital, Riyadh.

Two militants were killed early Tuesday, raising the toll to nine. Another was critically wounded and a fourth surrendered, said al-Turki. Officials say 35 police have been injured during the fighting in ar-Rass, which is near Buraydah, a known stronghold of Islamic fundamentalists in the kingdom.

A senior military official in ar-Rass, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that among those killed by police were Moroccan Kareem Altohami al-Mojati and Saudi Saud Homood Obaid al-Otaibi, who were ranked four and seven respectively on Saudi Arabia's list of 26 most wanted al-Qaida-linked terror suspects.