Riyadh arrests more militants

28 July 2003
Saudi Arabia's Interior Minister Prince Nayef announced on 22 July that security forces had arrested 16 Al-Qaeda suspects, who were planning terrorist attacks in the kingdom. The arrests follow a wider campaign to crack down on Islamist militants following the 12 May compound attacks that killed 34 mostly expatriate workers in Riyadh. An Interior Ministry announcement also released on 22 July said that Saudi security forces had managed to 'foil a terrorist plot against vital Saudi installations and targets'.

The detentions were made in Riyadh, Al-Qasim - north of the capital, and the Eastern Province. According to the Interior Ministry, those arrested were found with automatic rifles, other weapons, mobile phones, surveillance cameras, bullet-proof vests, passports of various nationalities, forged identity cards, cars, motorcycles, rocket-propelled grenades and about 20 tonnes of explosive-making chemicals.

Since the compound suicide bombings Saudi Arabia has been strongly criticised by the US for not cracking down sufficiently on homegrown militants. In what is seen as a direct result of this criticism, security forces have swept the country, including the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and arrested about 150 suspects.

The announcement by Prince Nayef of the arrests came one day before the kingdom convened a meeting of 40 international oil firms in London to announce terms and conditions for foreign investment in the energy sector (see Oil & Gas, page 8).

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