RIYADH, 1 November 2004 ­— Security forces have arrested an Al-Qaeda terrorist in pre-dawn raids in Riyadh and confiscated weapons and a large quantity of explosives including 23 hand grenades, guns and live ammunition from a terrorist hide-out in the city.

“Police arrested two other terror suspects in separate raids in Riyadh,” said an official source at the Interior Ministry. He said security forces also confiscated 33 bombs, two launchers, two machine guns, communication devices and different currencies.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki earlier denied rumors of a car bomb being prepared by terrorists to carry out a major attack in the Kingdom, saying they are “baseless”.

He also said that the large presence of security trucks and police cars in the capital over the past two weeks was a normal procedure.

The recent security measures in Riyadh have nothing to do with the commemoration of the great “battle of Badr” whose anniversary fell yesterday. It was the first battle in Islam, won by Muslims led by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) against the polytheists of Qureish during Ramadan in the second Hijra year.

Speaking about the new advisories issued by the US and German embassies to their citizens in Saudi Arabia, Al- Turki said, “We respect the right of every country to take the necessary measures toward its citizens in any matter that it sees fit anywhere in the world. However, the security situation in Saudi Arabia is excellent and that is what is being felt by citizens and residents alike.”

The spokesman said that residential compounds and other places inhabited by Westerners and other foreigners were safe from any terrorist attacks. He said that as far as he knew there was no current terrorist threat or terrorist attack about to take place.

“Security procedures that have been announced and others that have not been made public are precautionary measures so that terrorists do not achieve their goals by destabilizing the security of the country and harming citizens and residents,” he said.

Meanwhile, police forces in Al-Qasim on Saturday combed Khabt Al-Jateili area, south of Buraidah, in search of terror suspects. Two helicopters in addition to several police units blocked off all roads leading to nearby farms and rest houses that are located in the area. There were no arrests.