Saudi says arrests 4 militant suspects in south

RIYADH, Sep 4 (Reuters) Saudi authorities have arrested four militant suspects in the mountainous south of the huge desert kingdom, a newspaper reported today.

''Special security forces assisted by security agencies in al-Baha arrested four people suspected of belonging to the deviant group yesterday at dawn,'' al-Riyadh daily said.

It said the men, three Saudis and a Yemeni, put up no resistance when they were taken in a remote village.

Al Qaeda supporters began a campaign to bring down the US-allied royal family with suicide bombings in May 2003 against Western housing compounds in Riyadh.

Officials say more than 136 militants and 150 foreigners and Saudis, including security forces, have died since then, but the violence has ebbed in the face of toughened security measures against what official rhetoric calls ''the deviant group''.

The authorities in the world's biggest oil exporter say they have seized nearly 80 members or sympathisers with al Qaeda from around the country over the last three months.

REUTERS KR BS1355