Saudis Arrest 208 In A Sweep To Head Off Terrorist Attacks

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
November 29, 2007 By Rasheed Abou-Alsamh
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 28 — Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday that it had arrested 208 people across the country who were suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda and had been planning attacks on oil facilities in the Eastern Province and killings of clerics and security forces.
The Saudi Press Agency quoted a statement from the Interior Ministry that said the arrests had taken place over the past several months. The suspects had formed six cells, one of which plotted to attack a logistical oil facility, according to Gen. Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman.
Twenty-two of the suspects arrested were part of a group that planned to kill clerics and security forces. The arrests included a “media cell” of 16 in the holy city of Medina, which aimed to promote “takfiri thinking” — the ideology of Sunni Muslim extremists that supports violence against Muslims accused of being infidels and apostates.
Among others arrested were up to 112 people who the ministry said were in a cell responsible for recruiting Saudis to be trained in Iraq and Afghanistan with insurgents so that they could later return and initiate attacks within Saudi Arabia.
“As many as 112 suspects were arrested for coordinating with foreign parties to facilitate the travel of militants to disturbed regions,” General Turki said.
Also arrested were Saudi and foreign financiers of terrorism networks, who provided financial assistance to Qaeda-linked militants, the spokesman said.
A Western diplomat told Reuters that the latest arrests were not alarming, as the Saudi government had already dealt a heavy blow to the most dangerous terrorists.
“These are people caught by monitoring Web sites and looking at financial flows,” the diplomat said. “The hard core is really decimated already.”
 
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