The United States warned its citizens in Saudi Arabia today that militants were planning fresh attacks in the world's biggest oil exporter and security forces said they had found a militant bomb factory.
"The American embassy in Riyadh advises all American citizens living in Saudi Arabia that it has received indications of operational planning for a terrorist attack or attacks in the kingdom," the US embassy in Riyadh said in a statement.
"The embassy has no specific information concerning timing, target or method of any possible attack(s)."
Hours after the embassy published its warning, Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said security forces uncovered a hideout southeast of Riyadh where militants had stored more than two tonnes of bomb-making equipment.
The cache included fertiliser, ammonium nitrate, aluminium powder, potassium nitrate and other chemicals used by suspected al-Qaeda militants to make bombs deployed in attacks on Western housing compounds and security forces buildings.
Security forces who searched the hideout yesterday also found pipe bombs, acid and electrical equipment. Saudi Arabia has been battling a two-year wave of violence by supporters of Saudi-born al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden trying to expel Westerners from the country and destabilise the pro-Western royal family.
The US embassy statement, which briefly pushed oil prices up 60 cents a barrel, advised Americans in Saudi Arabia to keep a low profile. "It isn't a result of any specific new threat, except that there are ongoing, credible threats," said Angela Aggelar, spokeswoman for the Consular Affairs division of the State Department in Washington. "It's just one of our frequent warnings to Americans in the area, to remind them that the security situation there is always pretty grave."