Saudis smash five Al Qaeda cells plotting attacks on oil facilities

June 29, 2008, 9:37 PM (GMT+02:00)

On June 26, Riyadh announced that 520 suspected terrorists were held after raids across Saudi Arabia this year. This is the biggest haul of terrorists ever netted in the oil kingdom. Many of the detainees are accused of ties with al Qaeda leaders abroad.

DEBKAfile’s counter terror sources report that one cell consisted entirely of foreign nationals from Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Morocco and Kenya. This one, located in the oil-rich Eastern Provinces, was suspected, according to Gen. Mansour al-Turki, the Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman, of plotting attacks on oil refineries, infrastructure and security headquarters. Had they succeeded, they would have thrown Saudi oil production in disarray and caused mayhem on the world’s oil markets.

One detainee carried a recorded message from al Qaeda’s No. 2 Ayman al Zawahir on the memory card of a cell phone calling for donations. The cells were built up quietly and systematically during a period when terrorist activity appeared to have been quelled. According to our terror experts, it is far from sure that al Qaeda is not hatching a fresh batch of cells in the kingdom or in nearby North and East Africa to take the place of the captured terrorists.