Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has arrested about 100 people suspected of having links with al-Qaeda, the interior ministry has said.
A statement from the ministry on Wednesday said the suspects were plotting attacks on oil and security installations in the kingdom.
Those arrested included 47 Saudis and 51 foreigners – from Bangladesh, Eritrea, Somalia and Yemen.
Weapons, cameras, documents and computers were also seized.
‘Acts of terror’
The group was preparing to perpretrate “acts of terror” in the kingdom, a security official has said.
The suspects were organised in three cells, two of which were planning to attack oil and security facilities in the oil-producing Eastern Province. They included a Yemeni, who security officials described as being a prominent member of al-Qaeda.
“We seized belts of explosives which they were planning to use in suicide attacks,” the security official said.
Most of the suspects were arrested in the southern province of Jazan, near the border with Yemen. The dates of the arrests were not disclosed.
In 2003, suicide bombers suspected of having links with al-Qaeda killed 35 people in the capital Riyadh.
But a security crackdown helped curb violence inside the kingdom after 2006.
Khaled al-Maeena, the editor-in-chief of Arab News, an English language daily newspaper, told Al Jazeera that the details of these arrests are still coming in.
“The full statement is not out yet. The Saudi ministry of interior and the government are in a relentless fight against all those who create mayhem, confusion and are propagators’ of violence.
“I think we did expect that the crackdowns will come because the government would really like to have this as a terrorist-free country and all those who break the law will be punished,” he said.
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Saudi arrests over ‘terror plot’
