Saudi Arabia's interior minister said his country had foiled 230 planned terror attacks in recent years, with only 10 actually being carried out, local press reported on Monday. "Saudi Arabia is tackling terrorism with all its might and authorities have so far been successful in foiling 230 of the 240 terrorist attempts," the Saudi Gazette quoted Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz as saying late on Sunday.
Nayef, who is also second deputy prime minister, did not specify the timeframe for the foiled attacks, but according to an interior ministry official, the number covers the period from 2003 to the present. Speaking at the opening of The Saudi Moderate Approach conference at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Nayef said extremism and terrorism were contrary to Islamic texts and traditions, the reports said.
"Terrorism has harmed our country and because of it we lost many of our sons," Nayef said, according to Al-Riyadh daily. "We have approached it in a moderate way such as giving advice to those who have extremist thoughts to bring them back to their senses," he said. "This has contributed, thanks to God, in reducing the damage of terrorism and losses in life and property." In 2003 al Qaeda launched a series of attacks and assassinations inside Saudi Arabia that left more than 150 people dead, including attackers, over a three year period.