Saudi Arabia arrests 135 in anti-terror operations

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have announced a huge anti-terror operation during which 135 people were arrested on suspicion of planning terror attacks.

The Saudi Interior Ministry spokesperson, General Mansour al-Turki, said in a statement that the suspects were arrested in locations across Saudi Arabia

Of the 135 suspects, 110 are Saudi nationals – Turki announced that of the other 26, 16 were from Syria and three from Yemen.

The remainder of the group, according to the official’s statement, are from Egypt, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Bahrain and Iraq.

In a detailed breakdown of the suspected crimes, Turki said that 40 of those apprehended are thought to have planned to travel to “areas of conflict and join extremist groups.”

According to the statement, the group of 40 then planned to receive training and weapons and return to Saudi Arabia in order to launch attacks.

Forty-five others were detained after security services “verified” that the suspects were providing support for extremist groups, either through “funding, recruiting, spreading harmful propaganda and provocative video footage, harbouring wanted suspects, manufacturing explosives and so on.”

Meanwhile, 17 people were detained over “links to civil unrest and criminal gatherings” as well as opening fire on state security personnel in Awamiya, a village in the restive eastern province of Qatif, where days of angry protest broke out in October after a leading cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was sentenced to death for “sedition.”

The suspects detained in Awamiya included several accused of possessing and smuggling weapons, as well harbouring “loyalties” to foreign parties not specified in the ministry’s statement.

The ministry said on Sunday that three others were detained elsewhere in Qatif province on suspicion of “recruiting agents to be sent abroad to be prepared to return and carry out terrorist attacks within the kingdom” of Saudi Arabia.

The huge raids and arrests come as Saudi Arabia battles unrest in its eastern province and attempts to quell tacit or explicit support from within its population for militant groups like Islamic State.

In October, figures showed that of the 31 militants to carry out Islamic State suicide attacks in Iraq during a 45-day period this autumn, 14 were Saudi nationals.