Saudi authorities have arrested a group of armed militants as they tried to cross into Iraq. The arrests follow claims by Iraqi police that some Saudi nationals have been involved in deadly attacks in Iraq. Police in Saudi Arabia arrested four suspected Muslim militants who were trying to cross the border into neighboring Iraq. News reports from Riyadh say the armed men were arrested Sunday, near the Arar border crossing with Iraq.
A Saudi official told the AFP news agency that police seized four assault rifles from the militants.
Iraqi police have accused several Saudi nationals of being involved in deadly attacks in recent months, such as the August car bombing in the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Najaf, which killed Shi'ite Muslim cleric Mohamed Baqer al-Hakim and 82 other people.
Saudi Arabia says there is no proof its citizens have been involved in those attacks. But the Saudi government has been cracking down on suspected Muslim militants, a move prompted by deadly attacks on Western compounds in the kingdom last May, which killed 35 people.
The Pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat reports that Saudi authorities raided a suspected militant hideout near the city of Hayel, 400 kilometers north of Riyadh. Intensified security in that area is aimed at apprehending what security sources told the newspaper are "highly dangerous" militants.
