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Saudi Arabia arrests 135 for 'terrorism'

More than 130 terrorism suspects accused of attempting to "destabilise the country" have been detained in Saudi Arabia.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia say they have arrested 135 suspects, including 26 foreign nationals, for "terrorism" offences.

The foreigners included "16 Syrians and three Yemenis", interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki said, cited by the official Saudi Press Agency on Sunday.

The detainees belong to "suspect groups... that terrorism united", and their arrests followed "repeated attempts to harm the security and stability of the homeland", Turki said without specifying when they were detained.

Forty of the suspects had gone to "zones of conflict, joined extremist groups and trained in the handling of weapons... before returning to the kingdom to destabilise the country", Turki said.

He added that 54 others were implicated in the "financing, recruitment, propaganda and manufacture of explosives... in aid of extremist groups".

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Seventeen suspects were linked to unrest and armed attacks on security forces in Awamiya, a community in Eastern Province just west of Dammam city.

Awamiya has been a focus for clashes between security forces and Shiite protesters.

Turki said the detained foreign suspects included an Egyptian, a Lebanese, an Afghan, an Ethiopian, a Bahraini and a stateless person.


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