UAE busts ‘terror’ cell: official

DUBAI: UAE authorities on Wednesday announced busting a cell of Saudi and Emirati members plotting “terror” attacks in the two countries and other states.
The suspects “imported material and equipment with the aim of committing terror acts,” said an official statement on WAM state news agency. The arrests came after coordination between security authorities in the two Gulf states.
The suspects were described as members of the “deviant group,.” a term usually used to refer to Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
“Security authorities acted “after confirming that those elements were plotting to jeopardize security” in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and “other brother countries,” the statement said, adding that they would be put on trial.

Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman of the Saudi Interior Ministry, commended the UAE for the security achievement. “There is good coordination between security agencies in both countries,” he added.

Emirati political analyst Abdulkhaleq Abdullah told Reuters he believed it was the first time the UAE had announced a suspected attack plot of regional significance.

It "looks like it is a big one, mainly because it includes Emirati citizens and is not confined to the UAE but also has a regional dimension."

In August, Saudi authorities arrested a group of suspected al Qaeda-linked militants - mostly Yemeni nationals - in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia has arrested thousands of suspected militants since the 2003-2006 attacks on residential compounds for foreign workers and on Saudi government facilities in which dozens of people were killed.

The UAE has never seen attacks by Al-Qaeda, but authorities have in past months arrested dozens of militants accused of links to the Egypt-born Muslim Brotherhood.
In July, Abu Dhabi said it dismantled a group plotting against state security without identifying their affiliation or the number of arrests.
The prosecutor general, Salem Said Kabish, said an unspecified number of people were being questioned for having formed “a group aimed at damaging the security of the state.”
WAM said at the time they were also suspected of “rejecting the constitution and the founding principles of power in the Emirates” and of having links with foreign organizations.
The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven sheikhdoms led by oil-rich Abu Dhabi, the capital, and also comprises Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al-Qaiwain.