Saudi security forces also seized a large number of sticky bombs, suicide vests, automatic rifles, firearms silencers, ammunition and 600,000 Saudi Riyals (about $160,000 USD), according to the government statement.
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Unidentified gunmen killed two Saudi policemen in Dammam late on Saturday in what the interior ministry described as a “terrorist attack”. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. Fourteen are Saudi citizens, one is a Yemeni national, one is Egyptian and the other is a Palestinian national.
According to the SPA, the members of this network have been active in the preparation and processing of explosive belts and explosive devices to be used in their criminal operations, providing logistical support such as shelter to wanted people, and providing them with money, weapons and means of transport inside the Kingdom, monitoring the targeted sites, providing electronic and media support for the organization, and communicating with its leaders overseas in all their activities. The network also communicated “with leaders overseas in all their activities”, he said.
The situation in eastern Saudi Arabia has been tense since the January execution of a prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr, which sparked a global condemnation by many countries as well as rights groups.
The statement pointed out that there were 17 members of that terrorist network, including a woman.
The ministry said the group was also involved in a auto bombing against a security officer in the capital, Riyadh, in February, a bombing against a security checkpoint in Riyadh in July 2015, a failed attempt to bomb an oil pipeline in the governorate of al-Dawadmi, and in the murder of a retired brigadier, whose death was announced in February.
The cells prepared explosive belts and explosive devices that were planned to be used in their operations.
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Two other Syrians were also arrested. That suspect was allegedly monitoring religious, military and National Guard sites in the area, as well as the Imam Reda mosque that was previously targeted, and had communicated with extremists overseas regarding which site to attack.
