Saudis Break Al-Qaida Oil Rig Terror Group

Saudi Arabian security officials announced they have broken an al-Qaida terror ring and arrested 172 men who planned to blow up oil wells.

An Interior Ministry statement said there were seven cells of mostly Saudi nationals scattered around the country whose goal was to cripple the oil industry, attack public officials and military posts, and storm a prison to free terror suspects, a New York Times correspondent reported from Riyadh on Saturday.

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 government statement broadcast on state television said.

The sweep uncovered a cache of weapons buried in the desert and more than $5.3 million in cash, Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Mansour al-Turki said.

The arrests came six months after 136 people were arrested in a similar sweep and charged with plotting similar crimes, Turki said.