Major Terror Busts In Saudi Arabia

Police have arrested 172 militants who were plotting to attack Saudi Arabia's oil fields, the Saudi state TV channel Al-Ekhbariah reported Friday.

The channel broadcast footage of the large quantity of weapons of all kinds that were discovered buried in the desert. The arms included brickettes of plastic explosives, ammunition cartridges, handguns and rifles wrapped in plastic sheeting.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour al-Turki told the rival Al-Arabiya channel that the militants included non-Saudis and that one cell planned to storm a prison and release the inmates.

The Interior Ministry issued a statement saying that more than 120 million riyals ($32.4 million) had been seized in the operation, one of the largest sweeps against terror cells in the kingdoms.

Some of the militant were being trained to fly aircraft, the statement added, raising the specter of more attacks like Sept. 11, 2001 in which terrorists hijacked passenger planes and flew them into buildings in New York and Washington

Al-Ekhbariah showed investigators breaking tiled floors with hammers to uncover pipes that contained weapons. In one scene, an official upends a plastic pipe and bullets and little packets of plastic explosives spill out.

The ministry statement said that one cell had planned to carry out suicide attacks against "public figures, oil facilities, refineries ... and military zones."

This is a major intel and operational coup against terrorists. However, the scope of the arrests and the kind of information uncovered shows a sophisticated operation and the intent to commit mass murder, including the possible use of airliners. If these terrorists (and they're terrorists not militants) had been successful in their terror operations, they could have destabilized the regime and opened up yet another safe haven for terrorists in the Middle East.

It will be interesting to see how this story develops and whether there are links between the terrorists and Iran or various terrorist groups like al Qaeda.

UPDATE:
Allah wonders now that the Saudis have captured all these thugs, when are they going to be let go. Is this for show, or have the Saudis indeed nailed a bunch of terror cells that were preparing for mass carnage? Good question.