The Ministry of Interior has announced it had arrested 113 Al-Qaeda members including suicide bombers who had been planning attacks on energy and security facilities in the country. The Interior Ministry said its sweep, among the biggest in several years, netted 58 suspected Saudi militants, 52 from Yemen and three from Bangladesh, Eritrea and Somalia. The militants were backed by Al-Qaeda in Yemen and evidence showed they had been communicating with it “for orders” the ministry's spokesman Mansour Al-Turki said in a statement. He said the 55 foreigners were running the network while the others were the executers of the operations. Yemen has been at the forefront of security concerns after a failed December attack on a US-bound plane. Al-Qaeda in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the attack. Most of the 113, including one Saudi woman, were arrested in a months-long sweep in Riyadh, Qassim and Eastern Province regions. “The network ... which included suicide bombers was set up to lead attacks within the Kingdom and target installations in concurrence with the recent events at the Kingdom's southern borders,” Al-Turki said. The 113 militants were organized into three cells, including two planning suicide attacks on oil and security facilities and security officials in the oil-producing Eastern Province, home to the world's biggest oil refinery. “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.” They (the two suicide cells) worked separately and did not know about each other, and they were directly linked to the “deviant group that has chosen Yemen as a base for the launch of its criminal operations”. Authorities seized weapons, ammunition and explosive belts from houses and from deserted areas where some of the weapons were buried hidden. Authorities said the two suicide bombing cells comprised of 11 Saudis and one Yemeni, who security officials described as the brother of a prominent member of Al-Qaeda. It said they were in the early stages of preparing suicide attacks. Those arrested are between 18 and 25 years of age, Al-Turki said. Al-Turki also revealed that the two militants, Yousif Muhammed Al-Jubairi Al-Shehri and Raed Abdullah Al-Thahri Al-Harbi, who were killed by police in a shootout at Al-Hamra checkpoint in Jizan's Al-Darb area south of the country in October 2009, had entered the country through the southern borders. He said weapons were seized in that incident, including two explosive vests they had on under the women's clothing they wore as a disguise. Two other ready-to-use vests and 12 hand grenades were also seized. The authorities later arrested seven people, including Yemenis, who were charged with coordinating the entry of the two men into the Kingdom. This incident showed that the “deviant group is benefiting from elements inside the country helping it to carry out its criminal plans”. It also indicates the possibility that suicide bombers are currently inside the Kingdom, he said. “Some elements of the deviant group came to the Kingdom under the cover of work or pilgrimage or entered illegally,” the ministry's statement said. Saudi concerns about Yemen were amplified after the September attack on Prince Mohammad Bin Naif, Deputy Minister of Interior, by a Saudi bomber posing as a repentant militant returning from Yemen.
