JEDDAH, 30 December 2007 — In 2007 Saudi security forces placed 428 terror suspects behind bars. The Al-Qaeda affiliated militants included veteran masterminds, financiers, media cells, recruiting cells, wanted suspects and young foot soldiers that made up the majority of the rounded-up suspects.
The Interior Ministry stated that the Kingdom’s wide security sweeps foiled numerous terror plans, particularly ones targeting oil refineries. A plot reportedly foiled before Haj involved planned assassinations of religious leaders, including Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh.
Security forces also succeeded in closing down recruiting cells and groups importing militants to join insurgencies operating in Iraq. And security forces managed track down and arrest three individuals for operating three websites that espoused an ideology of “takfir” — the abhorred practice of Muslims labeling other Muslims as infidels for not sharing the same interpretations, a practice used most insidiously by self-righteous killers to justify their murderous acts in Muslim countries.
The most recent anti-terror operation involved the arrest of 28 militants in a Kingdom-wide sweep that began Dec. 14 in Makkah and Madinah, as well as the northern border region and Riyadh a few days before the Haj. Twenty-seven of the suspects are Saudis, the ministry said. The nationality of the 28th suspect was not released.
The ministry said the suspected militants arrested before Haj were plotting to hit targets “outside Makkah and the holy sites” while Saudi security officials were focused on Haj public safety operations. Except for the grand mufti, the targets weren’t identified. No further details were revealed due to ongoing investigations said the ministry.
The key of Saudi security’s success in fighting terrorism lies in pre-emptive operations executed in secrecy throughout the year across the Kingdom, a strategy that has raised the ire of human rights groups but that Saudi Arabia says in necessary to tracking and arresting people plotting major acts of terrorism aimed at disrupting society.
Early December, Interior Minister Prince Naif said that his men had foiled “more than 180 terrorist operations” since a wave of bombings and shootings blamed on Al-Qaeda erupted four years ago.
The militants, who are followers of Osama Bin Laden, openly advocate takfir aimed at marginalizing the majority of Muslims and recruit the tiny, like-minded minority that believes killing non-combatants (pedestrians, security guards, etc.) is a justifiable means to an end.
The most high-profile attack on innocent bystanders occurred in February when three militants in a green Nissan Safari opened fire at a group of nine French tourists killing four Frenchmen including a 17-year old boy 90 km north of Madinah, south of the archaeological site of Madain Saleh. The cold-blooded murder which targeted the group of three families when they stopped for a break as they were driving down a small road searching for the main highway connecting Tabuk to Madinah shocked the entire world in a random attack against Westerners in the Kingdom. A manhunt began in search of four suspects that included notorious Waleed ibn Mutlaq Al-Radadi, a wanted terrorist who featured on a 2005 list of 36 most-wanted terror suspects in the Kingdom. The apparent motive for the attack was to murder people viewed by these killers as non-Muslims defiling the holy land with their presence. But the racial profiling by these gunmen backfired when it turned out that the victims were themselves French-Moroccan Muslims who were on their way to visiting the holy cities for prayer and reflection.
Eight days after the French shooting Al-Radadi, named the mastermind behind the French killings by the Interior Ministry, was killed in a shootout when security forces stormed his hideout in Madinah. A police officer was killed and two others were also injured in the shootout. Forensic experts found guns at Al-Radadi’s hideout that were used in the French killings.
On March 7, the government offered $1.9 million reward for information leading to the capture of Abdullah Sayer Al-Muhammadi and Nasser Lateef Al-Balawi wanted for the killings. The two suspects were given a 24-hour ultimatum to turn themselves in but failed to do so. The second terror suspect arrested in the French shootings was Majid Al-Harbi who was arrested on May 27 in a desert area of the Hail region, 100 km south of the city. The third suspect to go down was Nasser Al-Balawi who was arrested four months later in the northwestern Al-Jouf on charges of collaboration, as he was not accused to have taken part directly in the murders.
On Oct. 14, Saudi security forces ended the 10-month-long manhunt by arresting the fourth and last suspect in the murders; Abdullah Al-Muhammadi was arrested in a desert area near Al-Jafdour, northeast of the city.
On April 27, the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of 172 terror suspects in one of the largest operations in Saudi security history and the second largest this year. The militants formed seven independent militant cells. Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki told Arab News the government believed these cells were working independently and did not fall under one organization.
Saudi TV showed footage of security investigators breaking tiled floors with hammers uncovering pipes that contained weapons. The ministry announcement said that the members of one cell were allegedly planning to raid a prison and free comrades. Authorities said many of the suspects planned to carry out terrorist activities “abroad”. Saudi officials said the arrests had been made over an unspecified period of time in recent months and that a total of SR20 million ($5.3 million) had been confiscated.
Out of the seven cells that were dismantled, 120 of the suspects came from two cells. The other five cells included the following number of suspects: 16, 13, nine, nine and five. The ministry did not specify how many of the suspects were Saudi.
The largest cell had 61 members, some of whom swore allegiance to its leader in front of the Kaaba. He sent some of the members outside the Kingdom to be trained as pilots so they can carry out terror attacks inside Saudi Arabia. Regarding the group’s funding, the ministry statement said that their leader misled a lot of people to invest in bogus companies.
The second largest group of 59 members was made up of mostly Saudis and was linked to outside terrorist organizations and camps.
One of the groups of nine suspects is accused of burying weapons caches in remote areas near their targets. The group of five suspects is believed to have been involved in the Feb. 24, 2006 attack on the Al-Abqaiq oil refinery.
The ministry said one of these men took pictures and participated in the shooting at the site while the other four played supporting roles, including reconnaissance.
In the light of 2007 arrests, officials said without elaborating that they believe some or all of these cells are affiliated with outside organizations. Recruited militants are believed to receive their training outside the Kingdom in neighboring country; they are then called back to perform terror attacks on targets inside the Kingdom.
Saudi authorities said all of these suspects had adopted the takfir ideology in order to justify their plans to commit murder and mayhem inside the Kingdom. Militants swearing allegiance to Al-Qaeda launched a violent campaign to topple the government in 2003, carrying out suicide bomb attacks on foreigners and government installations, including the oil industry.