RIYADH --Saudi Arabia's announcement of its largest security sweep to date was timed ahead of the Muslim Hajj to warn off networks who might be plotting attacks during the pilgrimage, a security official said Thursday.
The official said the arrests of more than 200 al-Qaida-linked militants was to be considered as "a warning" to those who seek to abuse the December event to "disturb" the pilgrims and to "damage the image of a forgiving Islam."
The kingdom announced Wednesday it had arrested 208 suspected militants in six cells, of which some were planning to carry out attacks against oil installation in the country's east, home to most Saudi petroleum reserves.
The announcement came less than three weeks before the Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj, when more than 2 million Muslim pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia each year and when Saudi steps up security alerts.
The Interior Ministry listed six separate arrests in its statement Wednesday, including the capture of 18 suspects led by a non-Saudi missile expert who were allegedly "planning to smuggle eight missiles into the kingdom to carry out terrorist operations."
The security official told The Associated Press on Thursday that the cell leader was a Yemeni rocket expert who had sneaked into the kingdom across Saudi's southern frontier with Yemen.
Some clerics in the kingdom have been blamed for feeding hardline ideology to Saudi youth to fuel militancy.
The security official urged Saudi parents to closely monitor their sons' behavior and be on guard "toward the danger of terrorism." The official also urged them to report to authorities any "ideological deviation" on the part of their sons.
Among plots the Interior Ministry referred to in Wednesday's announcement were planned attacks on oil installations in the country's east, which is home to most Saudi petroleum reserves, smuggling of fighters to and from Afghanistan and Iraq, and also assassination plots against the kingdom's religious leaders and security officials.
Wednesday's announcement indicated that al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists were still actively attempting to destabilize the monarchy, which holds a quarter of the world's proven oil reserves.