DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates said Thursday it had arrested a seven-member cell linked to Al-Qaeda that was planning attacks on the Gulf oil and business hub, the second time this year it has alleged a concrete threat from the militant group. The UAE, an important military, counter-terrorism and business partner of the West, said the seven were Arab nationals who had been helping Al-Qaeda with recruitment, financing and logistical support. “The cell was planning actions to target the country's security and the safety of its citizens and residents, and was carrying out recruitment, and promoting the actions of Al-Qaeda,” WAM said. “It was also supplying it (Al-Qaeda) with money and providing logistical support and seeking to expand its activities to some (other) countries in the region,” WAM said. It was also “trying to extend its activities to reach some other countries in the region,” the statement said, without elaborating. The seven will be questioned and put on trial, it said. The UAE, a federation of seven emirates including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has been spared an attack by Al-Qaeda and other militants; some analysts say the groups find it too useful as a communications and financial hub. But in December, the UAE said it had arrested a cell of Emirati and Saudi Arabian members of a “deviant group” that was planning to carry out militant attacks in both countries and other states. The term “deviant group” is often used by authorities in Saudi Arabia to describe Al-Qaeda members. Dubai police chief Dhahi Khalfan told a local newspaper in January that some of the group had links to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which uses Yemen as a base for international operations. There was no immediate word on whether Thursday's arrests were related. A court in Abu Dhabi is currently trying 94 people on charges of plotting to seize power. Speaking to Reuters this month, Khalfan reiterated allegations that Egypt's Brotherhood was linked to the alleged plot, saying the group's goal was Islamist rule in all Gulf Arab states. Emirati political analyst Abdulkhaleq Abdullah said Gulf countries were being targeted by Al-Qaeda because it considered them to be agents of the West. The UAE also arrested a group of Egyptians in December and accused them of links to the Muslim Brotherhood, collecting sensitive intelligence about the UAE, and having ties to the Emirati Islamists on trial. Human Rights Watch said 13 Egyptians were in custody. UAE authorities at the time of the arrests put the number at 11. — Agencies
