Saudi security forces arrest 13 accused of planning attacks

Saudi Arabia said on Monday it had arrested 13 individuals in connection with planning attacks in the kingdom, a day after security forces said they had thwarted an attack north of the capital, state news agency SPA reported.

ISIL claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attempted attack on a state security building in Zulfi, a small city about 250 km (155 miles) northwest of the capital.

Security forces have said they killed four alleged ISIL militants who had planned Sunday’s attack. They later raided a nearby rest-house they said the militants had rented for use as a bomb factory, and seized suicide vests, homemade bombs, Kalashnikov rifles and ISIL publications.

تمكنت التحريات وإجراءات الاستدلال ( بفضل الله ) من تحديد استراحة في حي ( الريان ) بمحافظة الزلفي مستأجرة باسم ( عبدالله الحمود ) أحد الجناة الأربعة، اتخذوا منها وكراً للإعداد والتخطيطي للهجوم الفاشل، وقد عثر بداخلها على ما يشبه معمل لتصنيع المتفجرات والأحزمة الناسفة.#واس pic.twitter.com/3vkyxAVEKJ

— واس (@spagov) April 22, 2019

Deadly bombings and shootings have been carried out by ISIL against security forces and minority Shi’ite Muslims in Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter. The authorities crushed an al Qaeda insurgency over a decade ago.

ISIL and al Qaeda have for years criticised the leadership of the Western-allied kingdom, accusing it of deviating from their strict interpretation of Islam and advancing the interests of their U.S. enemies.