RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it has arrested a total of 93 people with ties to the ISIS in recent months, foiling their plans to carry out multiple terrorist attacks which included a strike on the U.S. embassy.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said the arrests include a cell of 65 people arrested in March who were involved in a plan that included targeting residential compounds, prisons and security forces. Authorities also disrupted a plot for a suicide car bomber to attack the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh after receiving information about the plan in mid-March, he said.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh had no immediate comment on the disclosure.
The timing of the alleged suicide attack, however, matches with a decision by U.S. officials to halt all consular services starting March 15 at the embassy and diplomatic missions in Jiddah and Dhahran over security fears. The missions resumed those services a week later, though the embassy urged Americans in the kingdom to take extra precautions when travelling throughout the country.
Saudi Arabia is part of the U.S.-led coalition bombing ISIS in Iraq and Syria. ISIS has called on its supporters to launch attacks inside Saudi Arabia.
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