Saudi Arabia: 169 terrorism suspects arrested in two months

The number of people arrested for terrorism-related offences in the last two months in Saudi Arabia has reached 169, after 135 men were arrested in connection to a shooting at a Husseiniya, a hall used for Shia ceremonies, in the Saudi province of al-Ahsa last month.

The 135 were arrested on charges of planning an armed insurrection in the kingdom and facilitating the illegal entry or exit from Saudi territory for Saudis to fight in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Most of the men were Saudis but the group included 16 Syrians, three Yemenis, one Egyptian, one Lebanese, one Afghani, one Ethiopian, one Bahraini and one Iraqi.

Saudi authorities confirmed that 54 of the men arrested were affiliated with armed groups and had roles ranging from funding, recruiting, giving religious advice, media promotion and incitement to giving refuge to wanted men and manufacturing explosives.

Seventeen other men were arrested for their relationship to the gatherings in al-Awamia as well as possessing and smuggling weapons and planning attacks. Twenty one were arrested for their involvement in illegally afcilitating the entry and exit from Saudi Arabia and weapons smuggling weapons.

Four were killed in a exchange of fire during a police pursuit of a group accused of killing a soldier last Sunday.

The latest of the recent security operations took place two days ago in the village of al-Awamia in the eastern al-Qatif region. Four were killed in a exchange of fire during a police pursuit of a group accused of killing a soldier last Sunday, the Interior Ministry said.

Al-Araby al-Jadeed has learnt that security forces descended on al-Awamia early Saturday morning in an operation that lasted seven hours. Four were arrested and 20 people were injured, including a child after his family home was destroyed. Activists posted the name and picture of a boy killed in a skirmish between police and an armed gang on social media, but his death was not reported in the official press.

Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Mansour al-Turki said in a press conference the cooperation of the town's residents helped uncover those behind the killing of the soldier. Turki added that in the raid early Saturday morning security forces responded to gunfire and killed four of the men they were looking for, including the man who fired on the soldier. A policeman was moderately wounded .

Police also arrested eight Saudis accused of recruiting young Saudi men to join armed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen in a raid in the city of Tumair, 140 kilometres northwest of Riyadh. Prominent local figures in Tumair reported the men after they persuaded 35 people to join the Nusra Front and the Islamic State group (IS, formerly known as ISIS).

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.