The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Riyadh

Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday the arrest of 28 Al-Qaeda linked suspects for planning attacks in the oil-rich kingdom, following an alleged plot to commit a "terrorist act" during the annual Muslim pilgrimage, or hajj.

"Since December 14, 28 members of the deviant group (the term used by the Saudi authorities for Al-Qaeda) have been arrested, including one foreign resident and the rest Saudi nationals," an interior ministry official said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

The statement said the suspects were "linked to elements abroad and were planning criminal acts in the kingdom," an expression Saudi authorities use to describe Al-Qaeda attacks.

The suspects were captured in the provinces of Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and the area around the kingdom's northern borders, the statement said.

It added that it was in the "general interest" to withhold further details of the nature of the plots and the planned targets. The Saudi authorities have been battling a wave of deadly violence waged by Islamist militants since 2003.

On Friday, the interior ministry said that security forces had arrested an Al-Qaeda-linked group planning a "terrorist act" during the hajj, which this year attracted about 2.5 million Muslims from across the globe.