File under 'reaping what they have sown'. Reuters:

Saudi troops have killed eight gunmen and wounded another in a protracted siege in the northern town of Al-Ras, where fierce gunbattles raged for a second day with suspected militants, security sources said Monday.
A local hospital official said 51 security personnel had been treated by midday (0900 GMT) Monday in one of the longest and bloodiest battles in Saudi Arabia's two-year confrontation with al Qaeda supporters. Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier-General Mansour al-Turki said he could not verify casualty figures but confirmed the operation in Al-Ras, 180 miles northwest of Riyadh, was continuing more than 24 hours after it broke out.

Turki said the suspected militants, holed up in a complex in the town's Jawazat neighborhood, had hurled hand grenades at security forces.

The battle erupted early Sunday when security forces tried to raid a house where the suspects were staying. Witnesses said the house was secured by Monday morning but gunfire had erupted from a nearby building.

"They were asked to surrender, but those people are known not to listen," local governor Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdul-Aziz told state television Sunday, describing the gunmen as "terrorists."

Saudi Arabia has been battling supporters of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, who have targeted Westerners and security forces in the world's biggest oil exporter in a wave of violence since May 2003....

The town of Al-Ras is in the conservative Qassim province, the heartland of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi doctrine which some critics say has fueled intolerance and anti-Western violence.

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