Saudi authorities said Sunday (August 26th) they had thwarted plans to carry out terrorist attacks targeting security forces, citizens and foreign residents, and public installations, AFP reported.

"The security authorities had monitored for months the activities of suspicious individuals who were in contact with the deviant organisation outside of the kingdom," said Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, security spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, referring to al-Qaeda.

"Based on our monitoring, we discovered that these elements formed a terrorist cell in Riyadh that was promoting deviant takfiri ideology and recruiting members to carry out criminal acts targeting security personnel, citizens, residents and public installations," he said.

During the investigation, links between the Riyadh cell and another cell in Jeddah were discovered. Al-Turki said the Riyadh cell leader, a Saudi national, was arrested. The cell was in an advanced preparation stage, testing explosives outside Riyadh.

Security officials obtained "detailed information" about other cell members, their plans and their outside contacts from the Riyadh cell leader, leading to the arrest of six Yemeni nationals.