U.S. warns of Saudi attacks, bomb factory found (Reuters)

[Up2Late]

U.S. warns of Saudi attacks, bomb factory found

Wed Jul 20, 2005 3:44 PM ET

By Dominic Evans

RIYADH (Reuters) - The United States warned its citizens in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that militants were planning fresh attacks in the world's biggest oil exporter and security forces said they had found a militant bomb factory. "The American embassy in Riyadh advises all American citizens living in Saudi Arabia that it has received indications of operational planning for a terrorist attack or attacks in the kingdom," the U.S. embassy in Riyadh said in a statement.

"The embassy has no specific information concerning timing, target or method of any possible attack(s)." Hours after the embassy published its warning, Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said security forces uncovered a hideout 60 km (40 miles) southeast of Riyadh where militants had stored more than two tonnes of bomb-making equipment.

The cache included fertilizer, ammonium nitrate, aluminum powder, potassium nitrate and other chemicals used by suspected al Qaeda militants to make bombs deployed in attacks on Western housing compounds and security forces buildings. Security forces who searched the hideout on Tuesday also found pipe bombs, acid and electrical equipment.

Saudi Arabia has been battling a two-year wave of violence by supporters of Saudi-born al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden trying to expel Westerners from the country and destabilize the pro-Western royal family.

<http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2005-07-20T194417Z_01_N20469994_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-SECURITY-SAUDI-USA-DC.XML>
(more at link above)