Guard killer's al-Qaeda past

Saudi Arabia's interior ministry has said a gunman who shot dead two Saudi border guards while trying to cross into Yemen this week was a convicted al-Qaeda member.

Initially, the Saudis had said he was a Yemeni man who tried to drive across the border on Tuesday from the southern city of Najran. He was killed when guards returned fire.

Yesterday the ministry said forensic tests showed the man was Saudi national, Abdullah bin Saleh al-Sayel, jailed in 2003 for al-Qaeda activities, who later joined a rehabilitation programme after serving his time.