RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia said Sunday no suspects escaped Thursday's armed clashes between the authorities and gunmen in Riyadh, in which one suspect was killed.
Interior Ministry Spokesman Gen. Mansour al-Turki said in a statement it was "impossible" for any gunman to have eluded the authorities after four hours of clashes killed suspected terrorist Majed bin Abdullah al-Haseri.
He said no one could have escaped due to the "accurate siege" imposed around the area in northern Riyadh that day.
The authorities said Friday that al-Haseri, one of the listed 36 wanted suspects released in June, was killed by a "close-range explosion," indicating he committed suicide during the exchange of fire.
A top suspected al-Qaida operative leader in Saudi Arabia, Saleh al-Awfi, was also killed in the Saudi western city of al-Madina al-Munwara on Thursday.
The semi-official Saudi al-Madina daily Sunday quoted an unidentified security source as saying al-Awfi had split from al-Qaida and sought to form a new organization named "Shabab al-Tawhid."
The security official said the authorities believed the dead suspect had differences with the al-Qaida leadership, led by Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden.
