Saudi suspects accused of plotting to hijack plane

THREE al-Qaida suspects arrested in Saudi Arabia this week planned to hijack a plane from the southwestern port city of Jiddah, Saudi security officials said, in what appeared to be a plot for a suicide attack.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the three men arrested on Monday in Jiddah were Moroccans but offered few other details. Nawaf Obaid, a private Saudi oil security analyst with close contacts to the Saudi government, said the three were part of a larger cell that was “in the process of carrying out suicide attacks against landmarks in the kingdom”.

Saudi security officials said the three suspects intended to hijack a Sudan-bound flight, but did not say if there was any plot to use the plane as a missile.

The Moroccans were arrested amid a sweep following three suicide attacks in the Saudi capital Riyadh that killed 34 people on May 12. It was unclear whether investigators believe the three men were connected to the Riyadh bombings.

Reports of a hijacking plot and the targeting of Saudi landmarks, along with the al-Zawahri audiotape, were likely to heighten tensions in an already fearful kingdom.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was hardening security after warnings of new terror plots and US authorities raised the national terror alert level.

National Guard and police patrols were boosted at major landmarks around the country following “credible information” that recent suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco could spread to America.

Troops were deployed at the Sears Tower in Chicago, the nation’s tallest building, and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Military helicopters buzzed around New York’s Empire State Building and extra guards were also deployed on the city’s underground rail network.

In Washington DC Swat teams conducted random patrols and at the Pentagon guards replaced their usual berets with helmets and flak jackets.

US aviation authorities also temporarily banned flights over sports stadiums and restricted small private planes from going within a 17-mile radius of the Washington Monument.

Britain, Germany and Italy joined the US in closing diplomatic offices in Saudi Arabia for at least a few days starting yesterdday. Police patrolled Riyadh in camouflaged vehicles Wednesday and erected concrete barriers in front of major hotels.

The Al-Hamra residential compound, one of the three hit in the May 12 attacks, was heavily fortified, allowing entrance from just one direction. Authorities have linked the Riyadh attacks to al-Qaida. But in a newspaper interview published yesterday, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, cautioned that he had no solid information about a connection.