MECCA, Saudi Arabia - Police fought overnight gunbattles with suspected al-Qaida militants planning an imminent attack on Islam's holiest city, killing five and arresting others believed linked to last month's suicide bombings in Riyadh, Saudi officials said Sunday.

One security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two police officers were killed in a shootout at a checkpoint shortly before a fierce gun battle erupted during a raid on a bomb-filled, booby-trapped apartment late Saturday.

The Saudi Interior Ministry released a statement saying the raid occurred at an apartment building in the al-Khalidiya district, about three miles from the main Mecca mosque, at 9:30 p.m.

The statement said police clashed with a "group of terrorists...(who) were preparing an imminent terrorist act." No details of the alleged plot were given.

Five suspected militants died in the gunbattle initiated by the "terrorists," the statement said without giving their nationalities. Five security agents and four bystanders were slightly injured.

The statement said the apartment was booby-trapped and ready to explode. Some 72 bombs of different sizes were found with numerous other weapons, including semiautomatic rifles, knives, communication devices, bomb-making materials and masks.[...]