RIYADH
Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that it had dismantled a "terrorist organization" that was plotting attacks against government and foreign installations.
Security forces arrested 62 members of the organization, including three foreign nationals, Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turk was quoted as saying by the official SPA news agency.
Along with one Yemeni, one Pakistani and one Palestinian, those arrested included 35 Saudi nationals who had been temporarily detained by authorities earlier on security-related charges, al-Turk was quoted as saying.
The spokesman added that security agencies were now in the process of hunting down 44 other militants, whose names had been submitted to Interpol.
According to al-Turk, members of the terrorist organization have links with extremist elements in Syria and Yemen.
He said that "suspicious activities on social networks" had facilitated the arrests, giving no further details.
In March, Saudi Arabia banned several groups, including Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, in what some observers believed to be the opening salvo in a regional crackdown on the Islamist movement.
In early February, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz issued a royal decree mandating jail sentences of between three and 20 years for any Saudi national found participating in conflicts outside the kingdom or joining "radical" or "terrorist" groups.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
