April 27, 2007

Saudi Terror Sweep Nets 172

More good news. The Saudis have made a huge bust. They say the terrorists included non-Saudis and some were trained as pilots. Was Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi among them or caught while fleeing these raids? I'm not sure but some are speculating that may be the case.

The captured booty includes plastic explosives, handguns and rifles, ammunition and over 32 million dollars.

Apparently they were well informed of al-Qaeda's plans, it is reported that Al-Ekhbariah television showed images of security forces uncovering items hidden beneath floors and digging up weapons caches in the desert.

AP Via Yahoo News: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Police arrested 172 Islamic militants, some of whom had trained abroad as pilots so they could fly aircraft in attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil fields, the Interior Ministry said Friday. A spokesman said all that remained in the plot "was to set the zero hour."

"They had reached an advance stage of readiness and what remained only was to set the zero hour for their attacks," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour al-Turki told the Associated Press in a phone call. "They had the personnel, the money, the arms. Almost all the elements for terror attacks were complete except for setting the zero hour for the attacks."

Captain Ed has more here.

It appears the plans of the terrorists match al-Qaeda to a T. It is similar to goals and operations that al-Zawahiri planned against Egypt after his imprisonment there.

By Howie at 09:37 AM | |