RIYADH, 26 July 2005 — Security forces yesterday arrested four terror suspects, one of whom figured on a list of 36 wanted militants announced by the authorities in June.
An Interior Ministry statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency said Muhammad ibn Saeed Al-Siyam Al-Amri, 25, was arrested in Madinah after a tip-off from citizens. Two of his associates were also arrested.
Al-Amri was arrested, “after a group of citizens followed him and informed (the authorities) about him. Security forces caught him and stripped him of a pipe bomb he was carrying,” the statement said.
Al-Amri figured on a list of 36 suspected Al-Qaeda militants issued on June 28 who are believed to be linked to a wave of violence in the country. The top man on the list was gunned down in a Riyadh shootout five days later.
The ministry offered rewards of up to SR7 million ($1.87 million) to anyone who helped capture any of the men or foil a planned attack.
In Riyadh a terror suspect surrendered to security forces early yesterday in the Al-Jazirah District, east of the capital. Security forces surrounded a two-story villa around three in the morning after sealing off the neighborhood, and began a search for other possible suspects.
Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said the suspect surrendered without any struggle.
“No weapons were used in the operation and security forces did not raid his house,” said Al-Turki, adding the suspect was wanted for his affiliation with the group responsible for many of the terrorist activities in the Kingdom.
The United States yesterday imposed a travel ban on military personnel in the Kingdom in response to what it said were “continued signs” that militants could be preparing attacks.
The US Embassy in Riyadh said in a statement that in response to continued indications of operational planning for a terrorist attack or attacks in the Kingdom, US military personnel stationed in Saudi Arabia have been instructed to suspend all non-duty-related leisure travel outside their workplaces or residences.
Syria, meanwhile, said it extradited to the Kingdom 12 extremists linked to a killed Tunisian militant who it said had planned to set up a training camp for militants on Lebanese territory.
The official Syrian Arab News Agency did not state explicitly that the 12 were Saudi nationals or say when they were handed over, but said it was the first of several planned extraditions of an unspecified number of Arab militants to their countries of origin.
