Saudis arrest 172 in 'terror raid'

Saudi officials say they have foiled an al Qaeda-linked plot to attack oil facilities and military bases in the kingdom and arrested up to 172 suspects, including trainee pilots preparing for suicide operations.X The interior ministry said in a statement on on Friday that police seized weapons and over $5.33m in cash from seven armed cells.

The statement, broadcast on Al-Ekhbaria state television, said: "Some had begun training on the use of weapons, and some were sent to other countries to study aviation in preparation to use them to carry out terrorist operations inside the kingdom."

The ministry said that the suspects were plotting to carry out suicide attacks on public figures and oil installations in addition to targeting military bases.


Comment:
I find it peculiar that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is willing to attack oil facilities. I believe that they have actually made such an attack on at least one occasion. While on the one hand attacking the Saudis' source of wealth certainly makes strategic sense, on the other hand it could cause problems further down the road, as Osama bin Laden stated in his 1996 fatwa:

The presence of the USA Crusader military forces on land, sea and air of the states of the Islamic Gulf is the greatest danger threatening the largest oil reserve in the world. The existence of these forces in the area will provoke the people of the country and induces aggression on their religion, feelings and prides and push them to take up armed struggle against the invaders occupying the land; therefore spread of the fighting in the region will expose the oil wealth to the danger of being burned up. The economic interests of the States of the Gulf and the land of the two Holy Places will be damaged and even a greater damage will be caused to the economy of the world. I would like here to alert my brothers, the Mujahideen, the sons of the nation, to protect this (oil) wealth and not to include it in the battle as it is a great Islamic wealth and a large economical power essential for the soon to be established Islamic state, by Allah's Permission and Grace. We also warn the aggressors, the USA, against burning this Islamic wealth (a crime which they may commit in order to prevent it, at the end of the war, from falling in the hands of its legitimate owners and to cause economic damages to the competitors of the USA in Europe or the Far East, particularly Japan which is the major consumer of the oil of the region).

Curious.