Saudi authorities arrested around 431 people as part of a crackdown on a cluster of cells linked to ISIS militant group, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Interior (MOI) said.
Authorities also thwarted seven mosque attacks that had been planned by the suspects in the capital Riyadh as well as the eastern province, MOI Spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al Turki said in a press conference.
Among the arrested were Saudi nationals and suspects from nine other nationalities, he said adding that the cluster of cells was divided by tasks and target, he told reporters.
Of the 431 arrested, 190 made up the four cells suspected to behind the Al-Qadeeh and al-Anoud mosques’ bombings which claimed the lives of dozens of worshippers in May.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the May explosion at a mosque in al-Qadeeh village east of the kingdom during Friday prayers, which killed 20 people.
In late May, another mosque called al-Anoud was also targeted when four people were killed in the eastern province’s capital Dammam.
Also, 97 others suspected to be behind al-Dalwa incident were among those detained. In late 2014, gunmen killed eight people in the village of Dalwa.
The ministry, meanwhile said it found an arms workshop in the home of Ali Muhammad al-Ateeq, one of the suspects arrested.
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