2 police officers, 2 wanted men killed in Maan raid

Two public security officers were killed early today during a police raid in the southern city of Maan to arrest the main suspect in the killing of an officer in December 2013, the Public Security Department PSD said. It said in a statement that the suspected killer of First Lt. Ayman Meqdadi had also led a four-man armed and masked gang that attacked a military post in the Dissi region last week. The statement said that the Maan operation room had been tipped off that the prime suspect was hiding along with an armed group in a house in the Maan Al Tour district and a police force moved in after midnight. It added that officers ringed the hideout in a densely populated area of the city and ordered through loudspeakers those inside to surrender, but they began shooting and fire was also coming from nearby homes to cover them. The statement said the force responded in kind to the shooting and two officers died in a hail of bullets fired by the gang. It said two members of the armed group, including the main suspect in Miqdadi's killing, were fatally wounded and later died in hospital. It said police remained at the site to keep order, but added that one hour after the raid, unidentified shooters fired at random on the Maan police centre and fled. There were no reports of injuries.