Getting ready for Mecca terror

2007-11-29 19:31

Riyadh - Saudi Arabia's announcement of its largest anti-terror sweep to date was timed ahead of the Muslim haj to warn off terror networks who might be plotting attacks during the pilgrimage, a security official said on Thursday.

The official said the arrests of more than 200 al-Qaeda-linked militants was to be considered as a "warning" to those who seek to abuse the December event to "disturb" the pilgrims and to "damage the image of a forgiving Islam."

Haj starts in three weeks

The kingdom announced on Wednesday that it had arrested 208 suspected terrorists in six cells, of which some were planning to carry out attacks against oil installation in the country's east, home to most of Saudi's petroleum reserves.

The announcement came less than three weeks before the haj, when more than two million Muslim pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia each year and when Saudi steps up security and terror alerts.

The Interior Ministry listed six separate arrests in its statement on Wednesday, including the capture of 18 suspects led by a non-Saudi missile expert who were allegedly "planning to smuggle eight missiles into the kingdom to carry out terrorist operations."

The security official said on Thursday that the cell leader was a Yemeni rocket expert who had sneaked into the kingdom across Saudi's southern border with Yemen.

Planned attacks on oil installations

Some clerics in the kingdom have been blamed for feeding hardline ideology to Saudi youth to fuel militancy and terrorism.

Among terror plots the Interior Ministry referred to in Wednesday's announcement were planned attacks on oil installations in the country's east, which is home to most of Saudi petroleum reserves, smuggling of fighters to and from Afghanistan and Iraq, and also assassination plots against the kingdom's religious leaders and security officials.

- AP