Saudi Arabia arrests 136 militants

Saudi Arabia arrests 136 militants

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CE973F80-D9E4-4B03-A951-43D9B51C7ACA.htm

Saudi Arabia's interior ministry has said it has detained
136 militants, including a would-be suicide bomber.

The suspects were mainly Saudi nationals and included
leaders of several cells, a statement released by the interior ministry said
on Saturday.

The statement gave no names but said the arrests had been
made over recent months.

Al-Qaeda supporters began a campaign to bring down the Saudi
royal family in May 2003. The kingdom's security forces have since arrested
several thousand men.

Mansour al-Turki, a Saudi interior ministry spokesman, said
115 of those recently arrested were Saudis.

He would not confirm whether those arrested had links to
al-Qaeda, but said they allegedly "believed in al-Qaeda ideology and had the
same style of carrying out attacks".

Those detained included 21 foreigners, and a cell which had
been plotting a suicide bombing, abductions and killings, the ministry said
in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

The cell consisted of 31 suspects, including four foreign
residents, who were detained during a "preemptive" security operation in
Riyadh on September 12, the ministry said.

The group had been "on the verge of acting, after issuing
fatwas legitimising the abduction of innocent people ... killing them, and
raiding banks", the ministry said.

Another 44 Saudis were detained on October 26 in a series of
simultaneous security operations in Riyadh, the oil-rich eastern province, and
the northern regions of Al-Qassim and Hail, the ministry said.

Saudi Arabia announced last February that it had thwarted a
bid to blow up the world's largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq, also in the
eastern province.

Western coalition forces said in October they feared
possible attacks on oil installations in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf
countries.