Godlike Productions - News: Saudi arrests 28 Qaeda suspects over attack plot

11:46 AM

News

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Breaking News Back

Saudi arrests 28 Qaeda suspects over attack plot

AFP

2007-12-23

RIYADH (AFP) — Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday the arrest of 28 Al-Qaeda linked suspects for planning attacks in the oil-rich kingdom, following an alleged plot to commit a "terrorist act" during the annual Muslim pilgrimage, or hajj.

"Since December 14, 28 members of the deviant group (the term used by the Saudi authorities for Al-Qaeda) have been arrested, including one foreign resident and the rest Saudi nationals," an interior ministry official said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

The statement said the suspects were "linked to elements abroad and were planning criminal acts in the kingdom," an expression Saudi authorities use to describe Al-Qaeda attacks.

The suspects were captured in the provinces of Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and the area around the kingdom's northern borders, the statement said.

It added that it was in the "general interest" to withhold further details of the nature of the plots and the planned targets.

The Saudi authorities have been battling a wave of deadly violence waged by Islamist militants since 2003.

On Friday, the interior ministry said that security forces had arrested an Al-Qaeda-linked group planning a "terrorist act" during the hajj, which this year attracted about 2.5 million Muslims from across the globe.

The pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat reported on Saturday that seven non-Saudi Arabs had been arrested over the plot.

It said the arrests had not been announced earlier to avoid creating panic among the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Islam's holiest sites in and around around Mecca in western Saudi Arabia.

Interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turqi said on Friday as the hajj was winding down that the militants "planned to carry out a terrorist act aimed at harming security and damaging the hajj."

However he said the attack did not specifically target holy sites in Mecca or the pilgrims.

The authorities were on high alert this year because of the participation of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the first president from the Islamic republic to take part in the hajj.

Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said in early December that his forces had foiled "more than 180 terrorist operations" since a wave of bombings and shootings by the Saudi branch of Al-Qaeda erupted four years ago.

The conservative Muslim kingdom also said it arrested 208 suspected Al-Qaeda militants over the past few months who were plotting assassinations and an attack on a logistical oil facility.

The militants, who are followers of Saudi-born Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, espouse the ideology of "takfeer" -- branding other Muslims as infidels in order to legitimise violence against them.

The hajj, which all Muslims are expected to perform at least once in a lifetime if they have the means, has been hit by a series of disasters over the years, mostly caused by stampedes or fires.

There were no major incidents reported during this year's celebrations.

However, in December 1979, 151 people were killed and 560 wounded after Saudi security forces stormed the Grand Mosque in Mecca to rescue pilgrims held hostage by Islamist militants for about two weeks.

And in July 1989, one person was killed and 16 were wounded within the Grand Mosque sanctuary in a double attack blamed on 16 Kuwaiti Shiites who were executed later the same year.

Four hundred and two people were killed, including 275 Iranians, according to official Saudi figures, when security forces tried to break up an anti-US demonstration by Iranian pilgrims during the hajj in July 1987.

Email Article

Discuss in the Forum

Back

Vote For Godlike Productions!

Disclaimer:
This website exists for entertainment purposes only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. Moderators on this forum make every effort to review the material posted on this site however, it is not realistically possible for our small staff to manually review each and every one of the more than 5000 posts GodlikeProductions gets on a daily basis. The content of posts
on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or administration of GodlikeProductions. This site may contain adult content and if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately.

Not all posts on this website are intended as truthful or factual assertion by their authors. Some users of this website are participating in internet role playing, with or without the use of an avatar. NO post on this website should be considered factual information on face value alone. Users are encouraged to USE DISCERNMENT and do their own follow up research while reading and posting on this website. Godlikeproductions.com reserves the right to make changes to, corrections and/or remove entirely at any time posts made on this website without notice. In addition, Godlikeproductions.com disclaims any and all liability for damages incurred directly or indirectly as a result of a post on this website.

This site is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. You should not assume that this site is error-free or that it will be suitable for the particular purpose which you have in mind when using it. In no event shall Godlikeproductions.com be liable for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, those resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether or not advised of the possibility of damage, and on any theory of liability, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this site or other documents which are referenced by or linked to this site.

Some events depicted in certain posting and threads on this website may be fictitious and any similarity to any person living or dead is merely coincidental. Some other articles may be based on actual events but which in certain cases incidents, characters and timelines have been changed for dramatic purposes. Certain characters may be composites, or entirely fictitious.

We do not discriminate against the mentally ill!

Fair Use Notice:
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Users may make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights, economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information please visit:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

This Disclaimer is subject to change at anytime.

Mail Webmaster with questions or comments about this site.

Page generated in 0.034s (1 queries)