SAUDI ARABIA-MINISTRY/ISLAMIST ARRESTS Saudi Arabia says it arrests 88 for preparing "terrorist" raids

Record ID: 189508

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA-MINISTRY/ISLAMIST ARRESTS Saudi Arabia says it arrests 88 for preparing "terrorist" raids
  • Date: 2nd September 2014
  • Summary: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (SEPTEMBER 2, 2014) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS MAJOR GENERAL MANSOUR AL-TURKI, SPOKESPERSON OF SAUDI INTERIOR MINISTRY, SPEAKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SPOKESPERSON OF SAUDI INTERIOR MINISTRY, MAJOR GENERAL MANSOUR AL-TURKI, SAYING: "The security authorities has detained 88 people from the owners of extremist ideology and pro-terrorist organisations in various regions in Saudi Arabia, including eight people who have already been announced last week." VARIOUS OF OFFICIALS AND JOURNALISTS IN ATTENDANCE AL-TURKI SPEAKING TO REPORTERS AT END OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPOKESPERSON OF SAUDI INTERIOR MINISTRY, MAJOR GENERAL MANSOUR AL-TURKI, SAYING: "They showed their support to the organisations in Syria and Iraq and also in Yemen, and, you know, they wanted to get involved actually in their activities. Some of them tried to get probably some instructions of what he should do, how he should act inside the kingdom." AL-TURKI SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPOKESPERSON OF SAUDI INTERIOR MINISTRY, MAJOR GENERAL MANSOUR AL-TURKI, TALKING ABOUT ASSASSINATION TARGETS, SAYING: "Mostly they want officials, they want officials. They want all, let's say the clerics who do not support them, who try to talk to the public and cover, actually, their problems and telling people how their ideology and their thoughts, actually, are away from Islam and does not represent Islam. Anybody actually who act against them." AL-TURKI HANDS AL-TURKI SPEAKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPOKESPERSON OF SAUDI INTERIOR MINISTRY, MAJOR GENERAL MANSOUR AL-TURKI, SAYING: "There are more than 2,000, 2,500 people are outside the kingdom involved in one way or another in terrorist activities, including Yemen, Afghanistan, elsewhere." LOGO OF SAUDI INTERIOR MINISTRY SAUDI FLAG
  • Embargoed: 17th September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saudi Arabia
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAGX2MOZ9PGJYD9WC4EEXFC0ML
  • Story Text: Saudi Arabia has detained 88 people, more than half of them Saudis, on suspicion of plotting "terrorist" attacks at home and abroad, an interior ministry spokesman said on Tuesday (September 2).
    Ministry spokesman Major General Mansour Turki told a news conference that 48 of those arrested were Saudis, and that many had been planning assassinations.
    A ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency said the ministry had been following a number of suspects in view of what it called the spread of "strife and sick ideas" that lured members of the community "to places of strife".
    Some of the suspects had links to the Islamic State group operating in Syria and Iraq, to the Nusra Front group in Syria or to a branch of al Qaeda branch in Yemen, Turki told Reuters after the news conference.
    "They showed their support to the organisations in Syria and Iraq and also in Yemen, and, you know, they wanted to get involved actually in their activities. Some of them tried to get probably some instructions of what he should do, how he should act inside the kingdom," said Turki.
    However, he added that those who were in contact with militant groups overseas may not have also been in contact with each other.
    The detentions included eight people whose arrest in the town of Tumair was reported last week. One of those arrested had been preparing sermons for use by Islamist militant groups in Iraq and Syria, Turki said.
    The likely targets for assassination were government security officials, he said, but might also include clerics who argued against militant ideology.
    "Mostly they want officials, they want officials. They want all let's say the clerics who do not support them, who try to talk to the public and cover, actually, their problems and telling people how their ideology and their thoughts, actually, are away from Islam and does not represent Islam. Anybody actually who act against them," he said.
    Turki said that around 2,500 Saudis were believed to be involved in militant activities abroad, including in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan.
    He added that since King Abdullah in February decreed long prison terms for any who went abroad to fight, around 300 Saudis had been detained after returning to the kingdom from Syria and Iraq or being caught planning to travel there.
    Riyadh has long expressed fears of being targeted by Islamist jihadists, including by some of its own citizens, who have taken part in insurgencies in Iraq and Syria.
    Saudi King Abdullah warned on Saturday (August 30) that terrorism would soon spread to Europe and the United States unless it was quickly dealt with in the Middle East.

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