Saudi Arabia: Arrested more than 400 people with links to IS

(Baonghean.vn)- On July 18, the Saudi Arabian Interior Minister announced that the country had just dismantled an organization linked to the Islamic State (IS) and arrested 431 members, mostly Saudi Arabians.

Scene of the bombing on July 16 in Saudi Arabia, internet photo.

The Interior Minister said in a statement to the public that authorities “succeeded in destroying an organization that is considered to be a part of the terrorist group Daech – the Arabic acronym for IS.” The announcement comes after a Sunni jihadist group claimed responsibility for a car bombing in the capital Riyadh two days ago.

The Saudi interior ministry said its members were working to foment rebellion and spread instability. Many of its members have been involved in attacks including deadly suicide bombings targeting mosques used by Shiites, who are considered heretics by IS, in the east of the country.

Saudi Arabia, a predominantly Sunni country, has been carrying out a series of arrests and condemnations of Sunni extremists in recent months, who are often arrested for planning attacks on non-Muslims.

Despite participating in the international coalition against IS, Saudi Arabia is always afraid that IS – the organization that is still making waves in Syria and Iraq – will carry out revenge attacks as well as inflame ethnic tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in the country.

Chu Thanh

(according to Le Monde)