Saudi Arabia has started forming special security units to protect the kingdom's oil infrastructure from terrorist attacks, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz said Sunday."We have begun to create such units," he said, according to the SPA news agency.
Security forces thwarted an alleged Al-Qaeda attack against Saudi Arabia's massive Abqaiq oil processing facility in February last year. Two members of the security forces and two assailants were killed.
The kingdom has been battling suspected Al-Qaeda militants since they launched a wave of shootings and bombings, many targeting Westerners, in May 2003.
In April this year the interior ministry said 172 terror suspects had been rounded up along with weapons and cash. Some of the militants were allegedly plotting airborne attacks on oil facilities and army bases.