Al-Qaida suspects planned to hijack plane

Three al-Qaida suspects arrested in Saudi Arabia this week planned to hijack a plane from the south-western port city of Jeddah, Saudi security officials said today.

The officials gave no other details, but Nawaf Obaid, a private Saudi oil security analyst with close contacts to the government, said the three were part of a bigger cell that was “in the process of carrying out suicide attacks against landmarks in the kingdom”.

The scenario recalled the September 11 attacks on the US, in which al-Qaida suicide hijackers crashed planes into New York’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon in Washington.