By Xinhua
Riyadh : Authorities have arrested some 208 Al Qaeda suspects for planning attacks on security forces and oil installations in the country, the state television reported Thursday.
An Interior Ministry statement said Wednesday that the suspects formed six cells, including one of 18 militants, planning to smuggle eight projectiles into the kingdom. One of the groups plotted to assassinate clerics and security forces, the report said.
Security forces also “foiled an attack on an oil support installation in the eastern province after the perpetrators prepared themselves and set a date for the attack.”
The suspects were rounded up in a series of pre-emptive operations against members of the “deviant” group — the official terminology for Al Qaeda suspects — the Interior Ministry’s statement said.
The ministry said among the 208 arrested, more than half were linked to external parties that recruit militants and send them to troubled regions for fighting. They return to Saudi Arabia to “spread sedition and chaos”, the report said.
Saudi Arabia, an important US ally in the Middle East, has been battling suspected Al Qaeda militants since they launched a spate of bombings and shootings in May 2003.