Saudi arrests 2 for 'foreign communication'

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry announced on Friday that its security forces have arrested two people on suspicion of exchanging information with foreign groups about imminent suicide attacks in the region.  In a statement, a spokesperson for the ministry said the two suspects used computers and mobile phones to communicate with a “rogue foreign group”, a description which could refer to an al-Qaeda-linked organisation. One of the suspects is Chadian, while the second is from Yemen, the ministry said.  It added that security forces had been monitoring hateful and provocative messages posted by the men on social media websites, before arresting them during the last ten days of the holy month of Ramadan, which ended in Saudi Arabia on Thursday. The men are currently under investigation.  The announcement by the ministry coincides with the current international security alert caused by fears an al-Qaeda attack  against oil targets in the Middle East, particularly Yemen, could be imminent.  These concerns led the US and other western countries to close their embassies in Yemen and a number of other countries across the Middle East, with the US and Britain withdrawing diplomats from Yemen.  The Yemeni government announced on Wednesday that its security forces foiled an al-Qaeda plot to seize two oil pipelines in the Yemeni city of Mukalla.