Saudi Arabia has detained 149 suspected Al-Qaeda-linked activists in 19 separate cells planning attacks on state officials, foreigners and journalists, the kingdom's interior ministry said on Friday. The arrests, which took place over the past eight months, involved both Saudi and foreign nationals with links to Al-Qaeda operations mainly in Yemen, but also in Afghanistan and Somalia, ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki was quoted as saying by AFP. Turki gave few details about the cells' activities. "Most of the plots were against individuals," he said. Their targets were mainly Saudi security and political officials, journalists and resident "non-Muslim foreigners" or "westerners", he said, without being more specific. One cell was apparently training people in the use of electronic bombs, possibly car bombs, while another was raising money for Al-Qaeda abroad, Turki said. And one group was planning to seize weapons from a government security department.
