Al-Qaida militants wanted to draw US troops to Saudi Arabia

Captured al-Qaida militants have told Saudi media that last year’s foiled suicide attack on the world's largest oil processing facility was part of a plot to strike oil installations in an attempt to draw US troops into Saudi Arabia so militants could fight them there.

Four alleged members of an al-Qaida terror cell arrested following the February 2006 attack on the Abqaiq oil complex appeared last night on two Saudi television stations, saying their attack was endorsed by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.