Militant killed in Saudi checkpoint gunbattle

Saudi security forces killed a suspected militant dressed in women's clothes Friday after the man opened fire at them at a checkpoint, the interior ministry said.

Two men, one wearing a woman's all-black abaya with the face veiled, were stopped at a checkpoint in the early evening in Wadi al Dawasir, about 600 kilometres (360 miles) southeast of Riyadh, said interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki.

The one dressed as a woman got out of their vehicle and began shooting at the guards, who shot back and killed him. The other man in the car was arrested. None of the security personnel were injured.

"We suspect them to be related to al-Qaeda for the techniques they used to get through the checkpoint," said Turki, pointing to an incident in October 2009 when security personnel killed two men dressed as women when their car laden with weapons and suicide bomb vests was stopped on a highway.

But he said Friday's incident required more investigation to confirm if the two men were militants.

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