S. Arabia captures suspect in tourists murder

Saudi Arabia said yesterday it had captured a Saudi man suspected of involvement in the murder of four French tourists in the Muslim kingdom earlier this year.

The four holidaymakers were among a group of nine French people attacked by militants while on a desert trip in Saudi Arabia in February, the first attack on foreigners by suspected al Qaeda militants in the conservative kingdom for two-and-a-half-years.

The gunmen ambushed the group, which was camping in the desert in the scenic western part of Saudi Arabia, shooting male members of the party, including a teenager.

Saudi Arabia's official SPA news agency said Abdallah bin Sayer al-Mohammadi, the last suspect wanted in relation to the attack, had been captured as part of a security operation that began earlier this month in a remote area northwest of the Muslim holy city of Medina.

SPA reported in July that a suspect had been detained in the far north of the vast desert country. Saudi security services said in May they had arrested a man suspected of helping the militants. In April they arrested eight other men in the case, though the main suspect was killed in May when police stormed a residential building in the Muslim holy city of Medina.