JEDDAH: Saudi security forces have arrested a Syrian expatriate and a Filipino woman suspected of involvement in terrorist activities, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Saturday.
A ministry spokesman was quoted as saying Syrian national Yasser Mohammed Shafiq Al-Barazi and the Filipino woman were not only living together illegally at a residential house in Al-Fayha'a district in Riyadh, but were also making explosive materials and suicide bomb belts.
SPA said the Filipino woman was identified as Gioi Aban Bali Nang and accused of helping Al-Barazi in sewing and preparing the explosive belts. She was said to be wearing a suicide vest at the time of her arrest.
Al-Barazi was also found to have rented another apartment in Al-Jazirah district as a safehouse for persons wanted by security authorities.
He was detained in a police ambush in the capital on Wednesday, the spokesman said.
It was after Al-Barazi's arrest that police then raided his bomb factory which they found had been booby-trapped.
“The house as a whole was booby trapped by the perpetrator with severe explosive materials, indifferent to the lives of innocent residents and visitors to the neighborhood,” it said.
After the house had been made safe, police recovered two explosives belts, 10 containers of bomb-making materials and two firearms, the ministry said.
Asked on state television whether Barazi was suspected of links to the Daesh (Islamic State), the spokesman said authorities “did not yet have sufficient evidence to make any direct connection with this terrorist group.”
A series of attacks claimed by the Daesh in Saudi Arabia this year have killed dozens of people.
In July, authorities announced that they had detained 431 people, most of them Saudis, on suspicion of involvement in a Daesh cell.
Saudi Arabia has taken part in the US-led air war against IS in Syria since September last year raising fears of revenge attacks.
(Additional input from Agence France Presse)
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Syrian expat, Filipino woman nabbed in anti-terror raid
Syrian expat, Filipino woman nabbed in anti-terror raid
US shoots down Iranian drone approaching aircraft carrier, official says
- Iranian Shahed-139 drone shot down by F-35 jet
- Iranian boats harass US-flagged tanker in Strait of Hormuz, US military says
The US military on Tuesday shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively” approached the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, the US military said, in an incident first reported by Reuters. The incident came as diplomats sought to arrange nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, and US President Donald Trump warned that with US warships heading toward Iran, “bad things” would probably happen if a deal could not be reached.
Oil futures prices rose more than $1 per barrel after news the drone was shot down.
The Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying toward the carrier “with unclear intent” and was shot down by an F-35 US fighter jet, the US military said.
“An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board,” said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson at the US military’s Central Command.
Iran’s UN mission declined to comment.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said connection had been lost with a drone in international waters, but the reason was unknown.
No American service members were harmed during the incident and no US equipment was damaged, he added.
The Lincoln carrier strike group is the most visible part of a US military buildup in the Middle East following a violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month, the deadliest domestic unrest in Iran since its 1979 revolution.
Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene during the crackdown, has since demanded Tehran make nuclear concessions and sent a flotilla to its coast. He said last week Iran was “seriously talking,” while Tehran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, said arrangements for negotiations were under way.
Iranian boats harass US-flagged tanker
In a separate incident on Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz, just hours after the drone shootdown, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces harassed a US-flagged, US-crewed merchant vessel, according to the US military.
“Two IRGC boats and an Iranian MoHajjer drone approached M/V Stena Imperative at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker,” Hawkins said.
Maritime risk management group Vanguard said the Iranian boats ordered the tanker to stop its engine and prepare to be boarded. Instead, the tanker sped up and continued its voyage.
Hawkins said a US Navy warship, the McFaul, was operating in the area and escorted the Stena Imperative.
“The situation de-escalated as a result, and the US-flagged tanker is proceeding safely,” Hawkins added.
Oil futures prices rose more than $1 per barrel after news the drone was shot down.
The Iranian Shahed-139 drone was flying toward the carrier “with unclear intent” and was shot down by an F-35 US fighter jet, the US military said.
“An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board,” said Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson at the US military’s Central Command.
Iran’s UN mission declined to comment.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said connection had been lost with a drone in international waters, but the reason was unknown.
No American service members were harmed during the incident and no US equipment was damaged, he added.
The Lincoln carrier strike group is the most visible part of a US military buildup in the Middle East following a violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month, the deadliest domestic unrest in Iran since its 1979 revolution.
Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene during the crackdown, has since demanded Tehran make nuclear concessions and sent a flotilla to its coast. He said last week Iran was “seriously talking,” while Tehran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, said arrangements for negotiations were under way.
Iranian boats harass US-flagged tanker
In a separate incident on Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz, just hours after the drone shootdown, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces harassed a US-flagged, US-crewed merchant vessel, according to the US military.
“Two IRGC boats and an Iranian MoHajjer drone approached M/V Stena Imperative at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker,” Hawkins said.
Maritime risk management group Vanguard said the Iranian boats ordered the tanker to stop its engine and prepare to be boarded. Instead, the tanker sped up and continued its voyage.
Hawkins said a US Navy warship, the McFaul, was operating in the area and escorted the Stena Imperative.
“The situation de-escalated as a result, and the US-flagged tanker is proceeding safely,” Hawkins added.
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