RIYADH — During the last two years, Daesh (the so-called IS) group has recruited expatriates from nine nationalities to manufacture explosives and carry out suicide operations in Saudi Arabia, according to security sources. The sources said the Saudi security forces have dismantled the terrorist cells and arrested all members hailing from Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Algeria, Nigeria, Chad, Pakistan and the Philippines. In its latest statement, the Ministry of Interior explained that the assassin who murdered security patrol corporal Muzhil Fahd Mohammed Al-Silouli in Bisha was a Yemeni national named Omar Saeed Mahdi Bahaisami who was in his early 20s. The corporal was coming out of the mosque after the Fajr (early morning) prayer when the Yemeni ran his car over him and then stabbed him several times in the neck. The statement said the security forces apprehended the killer and six other accomplices from the same nationality. The sources said the number of the Yemeni nationals in the Kingdom who were nabbed in connection with terror activities has reached 360 since 2010. They said some of the apprehended Yemenis were now serving prison terms while the others were either under trial or investigations. Daesh has also exploited the Pakistani national Abdullah Gulzar Khan, 35, to carry a suicide operation near the American consulate in Jeddah during Ramadan. It also recruited Hisham Mohammed Abdo, an Egyptian, who was caught before exploding himself in a mosque in Al-Ahsa. His Saudi accomplice, Abdul Rahman Bin Abdullah Al-Tuwaijri, exploded himself before he was caught alive. According to the ministry, as many as 431 expatriates, who formed four terrorist cells including Saudi nationals to provide logistical support to Daesh, were apprehended. A dangerous terrorist who was arrested in Riyadh was Nasser Mohammed Shafiq Al-Barazi, a Syrian who was in charge of manufacturing explosive belts and preparing explosive materials for Daesh to use in the Kingdom. When the security forces busted his apartment in Al-Faiha District to the east of the capital, they found two explosive belts and a number of barrels containing chemicals for manufacturing of explosives. The also found a Filipino woman who was helping him to stitch the explosive belts. Three sisters under probe Meanwhile, investigations have started with the three sisters who were stopped from proceeding to Syria to join the war there. The three sisters and their seven children were brought back to the Kingdom from Lebanon, after the husband of one of the woman lodged a complained with the authorities. The seven children have been accommodated in a social protection home in Riyadh. The incident brings back to memory the sentencing earlier this year of two women to six years in prison each for supporting Daesh. The two women, named Umm Uwais and Al-Muhajirah, were also banned from travel for six years. A source said the two took the children and accompanied three Yemeni smugglers to cross the Saudi borders into Yemen to join the terrorist organization there. "The two women were known to be often critical of the Kingdom and had extreme ideologies. They were arrested earlier too for activities threatening national security," said the source. The source also said they were released by order of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, but they committed another terrorist act by taking six children and attempting to escape the Kingdom to Yemen. The women and the smugglers attempted to cross the border illegally and on foot but they were arrested by the Border Guards.
