Saudi police arrest 149 suspected terrorists

Saudi authorities yesterday said they arrested 149 al-Qaeda suspects in an eight-month campaign to prevent attacks on high-profile citizens.

Al-Qaeda has been largely crushed in the kingdom of its birth, which saw a series of attacks that began in 2003.

Some key militants, however, fled across the border to Yemen, where al-Qaeda has re-established a stronghold.

Anti-terror raids in Saudi have revealed that al-Qaeda members have been able to maintain links with leaders in Yemen.

Interior ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said those arrested had organised themselves into three networks, that had no knowledge of one another, as well as several smaller cells. Most of the suspects were Saudis; 25 were foreigners. One woman was arrested.

Weapons and about 400,000 were also seized.

The groups had foreign links, raised funds and trained their members in the use of weapons and making explosives. They also sent some members to areas of conflict outside of Saudi Arabia, he said, without elaborating.

Mr al-Turki said the sweep was not connected to last month's failed mail bomb plot.. Saudi Arabia provided the key intelligence information that led to the last-minute foiling of the plot, in which mail bombs addressed to the US ended up on planes flying out of Yemen.