Four militants arrested in the Saudi city of Jeddah this week were part of a group of 34 men rounded up in an effort to prevent a resurgence of Al Qaeda violence, the Saudi Interior Ministry said on Saturday. The four Islamist radicals surrendered on Monday after Saudi security forces besieged the building where they had an apartment in the Red Sea port. "Security work led to the arrest of 34 people of different nationalities in Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and Jeddah because they belonged to the 'deviant group' and had links to escapees from the Malaz prison," a statement on official news agency SPA said. Officials have said that two of the men arrested on Monday were among seven people who escaped from the Malaz detention centre in Riyadh in June. Saturday's statement said weapons and locally-made explosives were found in the Jeddah apartment. "They were using the flat as a hide-out and as a factory for instruments of death and destruction," it said. It did not specify when the other 30 men were arrested but said they had been under surveillance in recent weeks.