Saudi arrests 2nd suspect in ISIL-linked police killing

Saudi authorities say they have arrested the second suspected member of ISIL Takfiri militant group wanted for his involvement in the fatal shooting of two policemen in the capital, Riyadh, earlier this month.

Spokesman for Saudi Interior Ministry Major General Mansour al-Turki said on Tuesday that Nawaf bin Sharif Samir al-Anzi was detained early on Tuesday morning after police were tipped off about his whereabouts.

Security forces stormed his hideout about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Riyadh. The 29-year-old Saudi citizen opened fire on them, sparking an exchange of shots in which he was wounded.

The Saudi Interior Ministry had offered a $267,000-reward for information leading to Anzi’s capture.

On April 24, Saudi officials announced the arrest of a 23-year-old Saudi man identified as Yazid bin Mohammed Abdulrahman Abu Niyan, who had made a confession of affiliation to ISIL terrorists in Syria.

Turki said at the time that ISIL supplied Abu Niyan and Azni with weapons, ammunition and money to carry out the attack on security forces through a “third party whom they did not meet,” and is believed to be of Moroccan nationality.

The official further noted that Abu Niyan carried out the drive-by shooting while his Saudi accomplice drove the car and filmed it.

On April 8, two Saudi policemen, identified as Thamer Amran al-Mutairi and Abdulmohsen Khalaf al-Mutairi, were killed in a drive-by shooting as they were patrolling an eastern district of the capital.

The ISIL Takfiri terrorists, who currently control parts of Syria and Iraq, have committed widespread acts of violence, including mass executions, abductions, torture and forcing women into slavery in the areas they have seized in the two countries.