RIYADH, September 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Three gunmen and a Saudi security man died Tuesday, September 23, in a shootout at a hospital in the south of the kingdom, an interior ministry spokesman confirmed after residents and staff reported hostages had been taken.

Four more policemen were lightly wounded while two gunmen surrendered, the spokesman said in a statement carried by the Saudi television.

"The terrorists opened fire on the security forces, killing a policeman and lightly wounding four others," he said.

"Two of the terrorists then surrendered while three others were killed," added the statement.

"The gang, wanted by police, had holed up in an apartment in a staff residential building at King Fahd (hospital) in Jizan with the intention of carrying out acts of terrorism," the statement said, making no mention of hostages.

"They were armed with sub-machine-guns and grenades."

"Tuesday morning the security forces laid siege to the building and asked the terrorists to give themselves up. But they opened fire on the security forces," the spokesman said.

A medical source inside the hospital had earlier told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by telephone that four members of a large group of wanted gunmen had been shot dead after taking hostages.

Two other gunmen were seriously wounded and being treated in intensive care, the source said by telephone from inside the hospital compound on the edge of the city of Jizan.

The gunmen had barricaded themselves into the block, taking as hostages staff and patients of various nationalities, the source added.

Security forces had at about 1100 GMT warned the hostage-takers "to give up or face an attack on the hospital", he said.

Security forces had attacked at dawn a nearby farm where the gunmen had been holed up, local residents said.

The gunmen fled from the village and attacked the housing block, taking an unknown number of staff hostage, according to AFP.

Sources close to the London-based opposition Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia also reported that hostage had been taken by the gunmen who were fleeing from security forces.

Saudi Arabia has launched a major crackdown on alleged al-Qaeda militants, notably since May 12 triple bombings of residential compounds in Riyadh that left 35 people dead.

Since then, repeated shootouts have taken place in which several security men as well as gunmen were killed or wounded.