By Ahmed al-Masri

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AA): Saudi Arabia said Sunday it had arrested 46 members of a terrorist cell in neighborhood of Al-Harazat in Jeddah responsible for a suicide bombing on the Prophet’s Mosque in the holy city of Madinah last year.

Four security personnel were killed when a bomber blew up himself outside the mosque in July in a deadly attack widely blamed on Daesh terrorist group.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said the dismantled cell included 14 foreigners and 32 Saudi citizens, according to the official SPA news agency.

He said the cell had provided the explosive belt used by the bomber in the attack on the Prophet’s Mosque.

The charges against those arrested included intent to target worshipers at the Prophet’s Mosque, carrying out a deadly attack near a mosque close to the US Consulate in Jeddah, and the murder of a cell member who they suspected intended to hand himself over to the security services.
A carpet found at the site in Al-Harazat led to the discovery of the body of the murdered suspected terrorist, Saudi national Mutea’ Al-Sayari.

Of the 46 arrested, 32 are Saudi and 14 are nationals of Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan and Sudan.

The spokesman said investigation had proved that the cell was also responsible for an attack on a hospital in the port city of Jeddah.

Additional news from Arab News

[Photo: Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Photo by Flickr/Creative Commons]