Saudi busts 113-strong Qaeda cell: ministry

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it had arrested 113 al-Qaeda militants including suicide bombers who had been planning attacks on energy facilities in the world's top oil exporter.

The interior ministry said its sweep, among the biggest in several years, netted 58 suspected Saudi militants and 52 from Yemen, which jumped to the forefront of Western security concerns after a failed attack on a U.S.-bound jet in December.

The militants, who were also from Bangladesh, Eritrea and Somalia, were backed by al-Qaeda in Yemen, it added in a statement, without giving the dates of the arrests.

Henry Wilkinson, a counter-terrorism expert at Janusian security consultants in London, said the arrests showed the Saudi oil sector remained a priority target for al-Qaeda.

The 113 militants were organized into three cells, including two planning suicide attacks on oil and security facilities in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing Eastern Province, home to the world's biggest oil refinery.

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

Authorities seized weapons, ammunition and explosive belts, and said the militants were linked to a "deviant group that has chosen Yemen as a base for the launch of its criminal operations", using terms used typically to refer to al-Qaeda.

"The deviant group is using elements inside the kingdom who came (to Saudi Arabia) under the cover of work or pilgrimage or entered illegally," the ministry said.

Yemen, which is struggling to stabilize a fractious country, has come under international pressure to end a northern war and focus on fighting al-Qaeda, whose locally-based arm claimed responsibility for the attempted December airliner bombing.

The deviant group is using elements inside the kingdom who came (to Saudi Arabia) under the cover of work or pilgrimage or entered illegally

Interior ministry

Near the Yemen border

Authorities said the two suicide bombing cells comprised 11 Saudis and a Yemeni whom security officials described as the brother of a prominent member of al-Qaeda. It said they were in early stages of preparing suicide attacks.

Altogether 101 militants were detained in the southern province of Jazan, near the border with Yemen.

"The network ... which included suicide bombers was set up 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.

Riyadh is especially concerned about the resurgence of the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, where government crackdowns on the group have been ineffective.

In September, Michael Leiter, director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Centre, said the group has gained a dangerous foothold in Yemen.

"We have witnessed the reemergence of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, with Yemen as a key battleground and potential regional base of operations from which al-Qaeda can plan attacks, train recruits and facilitate the movement of operatives," Leiter told a U.S. Senate hearing.

Earlier this month, Saudi King Abdullah said the kingdom is determined to halt extremism.

"In domestic policy, the government continues to expend its efforts to strengthen security," he said in his annual speech to the Shura Council, the country's consultative assembly.

"A special effort has been made to confront the thinking of the group of deviants, extremists and terrorists," the king said.

The network ... which included suicide bombers was set up 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

Interior ministry