Government authorities on 4 December arrested two suspected militants in the Taif governorate in the southeast of the kingdom, reported the local daily Al-Watan. The arrests followed a short gun battle between three militants, during which one of the men managed to escape. 'A member of the security forces became suspicious of a car, parked in the Sharqiya district, and went to check the identity of the person in the car, when a second person appeared and began firing at him and then escaped,' Al-Watan reported. A local man was injured during the gunfight. 'The authorities arrested the second suspect after he ran out of ammunition while the third person managed to escape,' the report said. Intelligence officials indicated that the two individuals have previous criminal records. Neither of the detained men are believed to have connections to the Al-Qaeda network.