Saudi police arrest suspected militants, seize weapons cache

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi police arrested at least 11 suspected militants and seized a large weapons cache in southern Jazan province that included rockets and explosive chemicals, newspapers reported Saturday.

One paper said as many as 21 people were arrested.

A force of more than 200 security agents used tear gas and explosives Friday to blast into a two-story building where the Saudi and Bangladeshi suspects were hiding in Karbos village, near the porous Yemeni border, the daily Al-Jazira reported.

The security forces found 93 anti-tank rockets, more than 50 hand grenades, a number of machine guns, highly explosive chemicals, detonators and three security uniforms. They also found "deviant" religious books and bodybuilding and sports equipment, the paper said, quoting security sources.

Friday's arrests were made without resistance, newspapers said.

The official Saudi news agency did not report the arrests.

The government has cracked down heavily on Islamic militants since May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh killed 26 people, as well as the nine attackers. More than 200 suspects have been arrested and more than a dozen killed in a series of high-profile police raids since then.

Al-Riyadh, another Saudi daily, quoted "informed sources" as saying the Jazan arrests resulted from a tip by a suspect that was recently arrested in Abha, in the southwest of the kingdom. The newspaper showed photos of the building where the men were hiding and of two security men with some of the seized weapons.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah said Thursday his kingdom is engaged in a "decisive battle" against violent extremists and warned that any Saudi who harbors terrorists will not be spared. His comments followed warnings by the United States and Britain of new terror threats in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden's home country, has been under pressure to crush networks that include al-Qaida, the terror group blamed for the Riyadh bombings and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudis.