Saudi authorities have arrested nine Americans on suspicion of terrorism as part of a four-day operation last week that saw 33 total suspects arrested.
All the arrests were a result of what the Saudi Gazette has described as “pre-emptive raids” on six different terrorist cells operating in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh’s interior ministry claimed that 15 of those arrested created a cell called Jund Al-Haramain Al-Sharifain, Arabic for ‘soldiers of the land of the Two Holy Mosques.’ It is unclear as to whether or not the American detainees are connected with the cell or with ISIS.
“We are looking into reports alleging that several U.S. citizens were detained in Saudi Arabia. The Department of State takes its obligation to assist U.S. citizens abroad seriously,” said a U.S. State Department spokesperson in a Monday email to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
ISIS has taken responsibility for a string of bombings in Saudi Arabia, however, the group has not taken credit for Friday’s bombing of a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia’s predominantly Shia Eastern province. Saudi Arabia is a majority Sunni Muslim country, though a large Shia population resides in the eastern portions of the country. ISIS, a Sunni organization, has targeted Saudi Shias who they consider heretics.
The arrest of the nine Americans follows Saudi Arabia’s arrest of 532 suspected ISIS members.
In response to the growing threat posed by groups like ISIS and al-Qaida, Saudi Arabia set up an international coalition to fight terrorism in December, made up of almost exclusively of Sunni nations.
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