A Saudi policeman was shot dead Friday during a raid on a house in which three people were arrested and flags of the Islamic State group found, the interior ministry said.
The killing came with the Gulf region on alert against attacks by IS, which has been blamed for killing other Saudi policemen and has claimed three deadly mosque bombings in the kingdom and Kuwait.
The ministry said security officers came under fire as they searched for a suspect at a home in Taif, a mountain city about 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Jeddah at 4:30 am (0130 GMT).
A sergeant died "as a result of the exchange of fire," said a statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
"They arrested three suspects, confiscated Daesh flags, silencers and personal laptops," the ministry added.
Daesh is an Arabic acronym for IS.
The wanted man, identified as Yousif Abdulatif Shabab al-Ghamdi, remains at large.
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