The Arabic daily said police did not open fire on the suspects because of the risk to bystanders. “Police also wanted to arrest them unhurt to question them about their contacts,” the paper added.

The suspects, who had earlier been using a Honda car, opened fire on police who gave chase. The hunt for the suspects lasted for 15 minutes, the paper said, starting in the Ashbeliya district east of Riyadh and ending at the workshop.

“The suspects abandoned their (Honda) car in front of the workshop as its front wheel blew up,” the paper said. “They got into the Mercedes under cover of gunfire and escaped into a densely populated district.”

Security agencies have intensified their presence along the expressways from Riyadh to various parts of the Kingdom in their bid to track down the suspects.

Passengers told Al-Watan that they had seen several checkpoints on roads out of the capital city.

The father of Muhammad Othman Al-Shahri, one of the 19 suspects, condemned the group’s plan to undermine the Kingdom. He said his son had taken part in the Afghan war without his permission.

Shahri was born and brought up in Namas village. He joined the College of Shariah at King Khaled University in Abha in 1990 but did not complete the course. He was working at a vegetable shop in Namas with Othman Al-Amri, another suspect, and left his home in Namas two weeks before Haj with his wife to undertake the pilgrimage but did not return. His wife returned with her brother two weeks ago, Shahri’s brother Awad said.

Shahri’s wife said she had been staying at a flat in Riyadh in the last three months, adding that her husband came to the flat only to eat. Shahri did not visit his mother, who was in hospital for a month at the time.

Aysha Abdullah Al-Amri, Othman Al-Amri’s mother, said she could not believe that her son was among the terror suspects. “He is well-behaved and treated me very well. Unlike others he never went abroad for jihad,” she said. Amri worked in military maintenance.