Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — Qatar has been linked to a plot to attack U.S. military forces in the Gulf.

A court in Saudi Arabia convicted and sentenced 13 people alleged to have formed an Al Qaida cell. The court determined that the head of the cell was a Qatari who planned to attack the large U.S. military presence in the Gulf Cooperation Council emirate.

“They were convicted of forming a terrorist cell,” the official Saudi Press Agency said.

The verdict, handed down on Oct. 21, outlined a plot to attack U.S. soldiers in Qatar and Kuwait. Prosecutors said the cell, 11 alleged members of whom were Saudis, sought to procure rockets, grenades and car bombs.

Prosecutors said the Qatari, sentenced to 30 years, planned to send cell members for training in Iraq. They said the cell contained 41 members, including an Al Qaida weapons specialist from Afghanistan.

In March 2014, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar. The three GCC states accused Doha of supporting Islamic insurgents, including those from Al Qaida, Hizbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Few details were released of the plot. They included the identities of the defendants as well as when the attacks were meant to have taken place in Kuwait and Qatar.

Another Saudi court has sentenced two Shi’ites from the Eastern Province to death. The Shi’ites had been convicted of “participating in marches and rallies that caused riots.”

“They were convicted of chanting slogans hostile to the state with the intent of breaching security and overthrowing the regime,” SPA said.

  Saudis convict terror cell plotting attacks on U.S. forces, WorldTribune.com