Riyadh, March 25: Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has arrested scores of suspected militants accused of plotting attacks on oil and other installations in the kingdom, Saudi media reported on Wednesday.
Following is a timeline of major attacks and plots in the last 15 years:
June 25, 1996 – A bomb in a fuel truck kills 19 American soldiers and wounds nearly 400 people at a U.S. military housing complex in the eastern city of Khobar.
May 12, 2003 – At least 35 people, including nine Americans, are killed and 200 wounded by al Qaeda bombers in Riyadh.
Nov. 9 – Al Qaeda suicide bombers kill up to 30 people in a Riyadh residential compound, a day after the United States warned of terrorist raids.
Apr. 21 – A suspected al Qaeda suicide car bomb destroys a security forces building in Riyadh, killing four people and wounding 148 — the first major attack on a government target.
May 1 – Workers kill five Western engineers in a shooting spree at a petrochemical site in the Saudi oil city of Yanbu.
May 29/30, 2004 – Militants attack an oil company facility in Khobar, killing seven police, then flee to a housing compound, taking hostages. Saudi commandos storm the compound, but 22 civilians are killed.
June 6 – Gunmen kill Simon Cumbers, an Irish cameraman working for the BBC, and seriously wound his British colleague Frank Gardner as they film in a militant area of Riyadh.
June 8 – Gunmen kill an American employee of the U.S. contracting firm Vinnell in Riyadh.
June 12 – Kenneth Scroggs, a U.S. national, is shot dead in Riyadh. Al Qaeda claims responsibility.
June 18 – Kidnappers behead Paul Johnson, an employee of the U.S. defence contractor Lockheed Martin.
Aug. 3 – An Irish civil engineer working for a Saudi firm is shot dead in his office in Riyadh.
Sept. 15 – Edward Muirhead-Smith, a British engineer, is killed in Riyadh in attack claimed by al Qaeda militants.
Sept. 26 – Frenchman Laurent Barbot is shot dead in Jeddah.
Dec. 6 – Militants storm the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, killing five local staff and four Saudi security personnel. Three militants are killed and two captured. Dec. 29 – Two huge car bombs explode after militants try to storm the Interior Ministry and a security unit.
Aug. 18, 2005 – Security forces kill Saleh al-Awfi, believed to be the leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, in Medina.
Feb. 24, 2006 – Security forces foil two suicide bomb attacks at a huge oil facility in the east.
Dec. 2 – Authorities say they have detained 136 suspected Islamic militants.
Oct. 21, 2008 – Saudi Arabia says it has indicted 991 suspected al Qaeda militants for carrying out 30 attacks since 2003.
Feb. 2, 2009 – Saudi Arabia issues a list of 83 wanted militants based overseas.
Aug. 28 – Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef survives a suicide attack in Jeddah.
March 24, 2010 – Saudi Arabia says it has arrested about 50 Saudis and dozens of Yemenis suspected of plotting attacks on oil facilities.
–Agencies