JEDDAH: Saudi police have foiled an attempt by the Daesh terrorist network to bomb restaurants on the island of Tarout in the Eastern Province, the Ministry of Interior said on Wednesday.
Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said two of the plotters were identified as Abdullah Abdulrahman Abdullah Ghonaimy, 27, a Saudi citizen, and Syrian national Hussein Mohammed Ali Mohammed, 24.
Al-Turki said the terrorists were arrested two weeks ago but the arrest was announced only on Wednesday after all the plotters were arrested.
As narrated by General Al-Turki to Arab News, the two terrorists were on a car on their way to carry out their sordid mission on August 5 when they were stopped at a checkpoint in Dammam.
When the police started inspecting the duo, one of them tried to escape but was overpowered. He turned out to be carrying a suicide vest with bombs weighing seven kilograms.
During interrogation, the two suspects admitted working for the Daesh and led police to two other plotters, both Syrians.
"They were trained by Daesh elements abroad to target, in a suicide operation, Al-Saif Restaurant and Cafe in Tarout" neighboring Qatif, the ministry said.
"They were to implement the operation at 11 p.m. the same day," the statement said. "Investigations so far reveal that two other Syrians are involved and have been arrested."
Qatif bomber identified
Also on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry announced that the terrorist who died in a failed suicide bombing mission in Qatif
on Tuesday night was a Pakistani.
The man was identified from an ID that was found on his pocket, said the ministry, which withheld the name.
The terrorist, who was said to be wearing an explosive vest, was killed near Al-Rasoul Al-A’dham mosque in the village of Um Al-Hamam in Qatif.
Another man was arrested by police in Al-Mustafa area and unconfirmed reports say that the man was also not a Saudi.
A number of suicide bombing attacks in the kingdom in the past two years had been claimed by the Daesh, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.
The latest attacks in the kingdom claimed by the Daesh group were carried out on July 4 in Jeddah, Qatif and the holy city of Madinah.
Four police officers were killed in the Madinah attack while the bombers succeeded in killing only themselves in the Jeddah and Qatif attacks.
Saudi authorities have killed or arrested hundreds of suspected Daesh members or supporters in the past two years.
