Interpol issues alert for 85 wanted by Saudi Arabia

Documents profiling the suspects show that they include a man married to Osama Bin Laden’s daughter and another who was suspected of involvement in a plot to kill the US ambassador in Yemen.

Interpol, based in Lyon, France, said the men are all wanted on terrorism-related charges, including links to Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was the first time the international police agency has issued a single so-called orange notice for so many suspects at once.

An orange notice is sent to all of Interpol’s 187 member countries and includes identifying details of each suspect to aid in arrests. Interpol did not release details about the suspects.

Documents profiling the men obtained by The Associated Press in Saudi Arabia show that many are suspected of taking part in planning attacks targeting oil or security installations or provided Al-Qaeda members with weapons and money. All are believed to be hiding abroad, many in neighboring Yemen.

On the Saudi Cabinet, chaired by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, called upon countries in the region “to shoulder their responsibilities” in hunting down terrorist suspects.

Saudi authorities believe the men are active members of Al-Qaeda or local offshoots and are trying to re-establish the terror network in Saudi Arabia after a series of harsh crackdowns in past years. They include 11 who have been released from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Al-Qaeda has not carried out a major attack in Saudi Arabia since February 2006, when suicide bombers tried but failed to attack an oil facility at the Abqaiq complex, the world’s largest oil processing facility, in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Interpol Secretary-General Ronald K. Noble said Saudi authorities consider the men “a security concern not only for Saudi Arabia and the entire region but for the world as a whole.”