RIYADH, April 30: There are 40 foreigners among the 172 militants arrested by the Saudi security forces, during a recent crackdown. The arrests were announced by Saudi authorities last Friday, claiming a major success in their ongoing battle against extremism in the kingdom. However, Major General Mansur al-Turki, the official spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Interior, didn’t specify the nationalities of the detained foreigners.

Al-Turki told the Arabic daily Asharq al-Awsat that the Saudi Government has notified the countries whose military bases were the intended target of those groups. He further added they have also informed the countries in which the terrorists had received aviation training, so as to hit military bases and oil infra structures within and outside the Kingdom.

Major General Al-Turki said that the government “has been in contact with the countries whose military bases were being targeted by the armed groups, the countries in which those had received pilot training, and the countries in which those groups had received field training.” He emphasised Saudi Arabia expected reciprocity in this matter and provide Saudi Arabia with any information they might have on plans and schemes being hatched on their lands against the kingdom.

The Interior Ministry’s official spokesman noted that members of one of the terrorist cells had received pilot training in what he described as ‘secure countries,’ while members of the remaining cells had received field training in ‘turbulent countries.’