SAUDIS ARREST 208 JIHADISTS AND SMASH 6 CELLS PLANNING AN ATTACK ON OIL FACILITIES

THE AUSTRALIAN/AFP:

Saudi Arabia has arrested 208 suspected al-Qa'ida militants plotting assassinations and an attack on an oil facility, in one of the biggest swoops in the kingdom.

The suspects formed six cells, one of which plotted to attack a logistical oil facility in the Eastern Province, Interior Ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki.

“One of the cells was plotting to attack an auxiliary oil facility in the Eastern Province - a logistical facility, not an oil refinery,” he said.

General Turki did not give details about the installation, but said the suspects had been arrested over the past few months in various parts of the country.

He said another cell was plotting to smuggle rockets into the kingdom, which has been battling suspected al-Qa'ida militants since they launched a spate of bombings and shootings in May 2003.

An Interior Ministry statement carried by official media said security forces thwarted an imminent attack on the auxiliary facility by rounding up the eight members of the cell, which was led by a foreign resident who trained suicide bombers.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil producer and exporter, announced in February last year that it had foiled an attempt to blow up the world's largest oil processing plant, in Abqaiq in the Eastern Province.

The Interior Ministry said the suspects were rounded up in a series of preemptive operations against members of the “deviant” group - official terminology for al-Qa'ida suspects.

Some of those detained had formed “an assassination squad to target (Islamic) scholars and security men”.

Another cell headed by an “infiltrator” who is an “expert in launching rockets” was plotting to smuggle eight rockets across the border to use them in “terrorist operations” inside the country.

More than half of those arrested - 112 - were linked to “external” parties that recruit militants and send them to troubled regions in order to take part in fighting in these countries and then return to “spread sedition and chaos” in Saudi Arabia, the ministry said.

It was apparently referring to Iraq, where Saudis are among militants fighting US-led forces.

Those detained also included “32 Saudis and (foreign) residents active in providing financial aid to adherents of the devious thinking,” the ministry said.

Another 16 rounded up in the Muslim holy city of Medina constituted a “media cell” active in promoting the Islamist extremists' views, inciting “criminal acts” and coordinating the travel of militants to “areas of military conflict.”

• HALF THE SAUDIS ARE ON OUR SIDE, WHICH MAKES THEM ABOUT AS TRUSTWORTHY AS PAKISTAN.
• HALF IS BETTER THAN NONE.

• IF THE DEMOCRATS WOULD ALLOW US TO USE MORE COAL, BUILD MORE NUCLEAR POWER-PANTS, AND EXPLOIT THE OIL RESERVES IN ANWR AND OFF THE COASTS OF CALIFORNIA AND FLORIDA, THEN WE'D BE IN A BETTER POSITION TO DEAL WITH THE SAUDIS.