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Thursday, March 25, 2010    

Saudi arrests foil Al Qaida plots against oil sector

ABU DHABI — Saudi Arabia has reported Al Qaida plans to attack the oil sector of the Arab kingdom.   

The Saudi Interior Ministry has reported foiling several Al Qaida plots against oil facilities over the last year. The ministry said 113 suspected Al Qaida operatives were arrested over the last five months, Middle East Newsline reported.

"The network, which included suicide bombers, was established to lead attacks within the kingdom and target installations, and monitor security members as potential targets in concurrence with the recent events at the kingdom's southern borders," the Interior Ministry said on March 24.


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The ministry said many of the detainees were Arab and Muslim nationals, including from Bangladesh, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. The detainees included 51 Yemenis and 47 Saudis.

Officials said the detainees, identified in mid-2009, formed three separate cells of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. They said most of the operatives, found with guns, ammunition and cameras, were captured near the Saudi border with Yemen.

Officials said Saudi intelligence agencies learned the identities of the detainees after the killing of two Al Qaida agents in October 2009. The agents were found with four explosive belts.

"The two had infiltrated the country through the Yemeni border to carry out terrorist operations," ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al Turki said. "This incident shows that Al Qaida was using individuals inside the kingdom to carry out their operations."

The ministry said 12 Al Qaida operatives, all but one of them Saudi nationals, were captured along the Yemeni border. The statement said the two suspected cells were preparing to attack oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. In 2006, Al Qaida stormed the Abqaiq oil processing plant in eastern Saudi Arabia.

"The 12 in the two cells were suicide bombers," Al Turki said. "We have compelling evidence against all of those arrested that they were plotting terrorist attacks inside the kingdom."



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