Saudi Arabia arrests 40 Islamist militants

Riyadh, June 24 : Saudi Arabia has arrested 40 suspected Islamist militants including 13 ''involved in terrorism'' in raids across the kingdom, the state television said today.

It said four suspected terrorists including an Iraqi were arrested in a raid at their hideout in the northeastern town of Hafr al-Baten. The raid led to the arrest of ''9 Saudis involved in terrorism,'' it added quoting an Interior Ministry statement.

It said another 27 men were arrested across the vast desert kingdom, in Mecca, the Eastern Province and the northern border region, including 24 Saudis, two Somalis and an Ethiopian.

The ministry of interior said the 27 men were involved in ''suspicious activities'' connected to radical Islamist groups.

A security source told Reuters the arrests formed part of a wider cell of some 50 people which had been broken up, involving a shoot-out yesterday.

It said weapons and documents were seized in the raid on the desert hideout.

Six suspected al Qaeda-linked militants and a policeman were killed in the shootout in Riyadh after police said they surrounded their house to prevent an imminent attack.

Islamist activists allied to the al Qaeda group have been waging a violent campaign aimed at toppling the US-backed monarchy, which is also the world's biggest oil exporter, and expelling Westerners from the birthplace of Islam.

Officials say about 150 foreigners and Saudis, including security forces, and 130 militants have died in attacks and clashes with police since May 2003, when al Qaeda suicide bombers hit three Western housing compounds in Riyadh.

In February, they tried to attack the world's largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq, but analysts say that in the face of tough Saudi security policies backed by Western intelligence agencies, the campaign has run out of steam for the moment.

Reuters