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2 border guards killed in clash with drug smugglers
[Arab News] Two Saudi border guards were killed on Friday during a clash with drug smugglers at the restive border with Yemen.

The clash took place at Dhahran Al-Janoub, Asir, when 15 traffickers tried to smuggle 500 kilograms of hashish into the Kingdom, police said.

Lt. Col. Abdullah Al-Hamrani, spokesman of the border guards, told Arab News that security officers were able to arrest some of the traffickers, who belong to different nationalities. "There were no Saudis among them," he said. He pointed out that the arrested included several intruders.

Al-Hamrani said his department prevents at least three attempts of drug smuggling through the southern border every week.

Speaking about the incident that took place on Friday, he said police were successful in driving the smugglers back. "Border patrols on a routine reconnaissance operation spotted a group of 15 smugglers who were trying to cross the border for the purpose of trafficking," the spokesman said.

"When they were warned to retreat to where they came from, they started shooting from several locations. But we don't know how many of them were killed in the operation," he said. He identified the slain policemen as Muhammad Saeed Al-Qahtani and Hussein Ali Hassan.
Posted by: Fred 2010-08-08
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=302883