Saudi arrests suspects planning oil attacks

RIYADH, Apr 27 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia said today it foiled an al Qaeda-linked plot to attack oil facilities and military bases, arresting more than 170 suspects, including some trainee pilots preparing for suicide operations.

The Interior Ministry said police seized weapons and more than 20 million riyals (5 million dollar) in cash from 7 armed cells.

''Some had begun training on the use of weapons, and some were sent to other countries to study aviation in preparation to use them to carry out terrorist operations inside the kingdom,'' a ministry statement said.

''One of their main targets was to carry out suicide attacks against public figures and oil installations and to target military bases inside and outside (the country).'' Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil exporter, supplying about 7 million barrels a day to world markets. It holds nearly a quarter of the world's oil reserves.

News of the arrests helped push oil up by around 52 cents a barrel to 68.17 dollar just after 21:30 hrs IST Al Qaeda has called for attacks on oil targets.

Most of the 19 al Qaeda militants who commandeered hijacked planes in the Sept. 11 attack on the United States were Saudis.

Islamist militants swearing allegiance to al Qaeda launched a violent campaign to topple the US-allied Saudi monarchy in 2003, carrying out suicide bomb attacks on foreigners and government installations, including the oil industry.

Five of the men played a role in an attempt to storm a major oil facility at Abqaiq in February 2006, a security source said. It was not clear why they were uncovered now.

Analyst Fares bin Houzam, a former militant sympathiser, said the arrests showed the failure of the government's campaign to demonise the militant movement.

''This suggests that over the last four years not much has been achieved. Security forces find groups, but at the ideological level progress is very slow,'' he told Reuters.

Tough security measures and a publicity campaign helped quell the violence but analysts and diplomats say the underlying currents of radical Islamist ideology and anger at Western policy in the region remain strong.

MORE REUTRS RJ PM2330