Authorities say they have foiled Islamic State plans to carry out terrorist attacks including a strike on the US embassy in the capital
Saudi authorities say they have arrested 93 people with ties to Islamic State (Isis) in recent months, foiling their plans to carry out terrorist attacks including a strike on the US embassy in Riyadh.
Interior ministry spokesman, Maj Gen Mansour al-Turki, said on Tuesday the arrests include a group of 65 people arrested in March who were involved in a plan that included targeting residential compounds, prisons and security forces.
He said authorities also disrupted a suicide car bomber’s plot to attack the US embassy in the capital after receiving information about the plan in mid-March.
A spokesman for the US embassy in Riyadh had no immediate comment.
The timing of the alleged suicide attack, however, matches with a decision by US officials to halt all consular services for a week from 15 March at the embassy and two other diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia over security fears.
The missions resumed those services a week laterwhen the embassy urged Americans in the kingdom to take extra precautions when travelling.
Saudi Arabia is part of the US-led coalition bombing Isis in Iraq and Syria. The group has called on its supporters to launch attacks inside Saudi Arabia.
