Saudis List Top Terrorist Suspects

Saudi Arabia issued the names and photos of its 26 most-wanted terrorist suspects and increased protection around Western housing compounds here in the capital on Saturday as the U.S. upped its security warning.

The new warning ordered embassy and consulate staff members not to leave the heavily guarded diplomatic quarters in Riyadh and other cities, except for essential duties.

The steps came days after the United States and Britain warned that militants were studying Western residential complexes for a possible attack.

The wanted list issued Saturday consisted of one Yemeni, two Moroccans and 23 Saudis.

In a statement aired on state television and released by the official Saudi Press Agency, the Interior Ministry said it was offering a $267,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of any suspect. The reward would increase to $1.3 million for information leading to the arrest of more than one wanted person, and to $1.9 million for actions that foil an attempted attack.

Meanwhile Saturday, the U.S. and British embassies said that an American and a Briton have been detained by Saudi authorities in Jidda, but embassy officials said they did not know the reason.

The U.S. Embassy refused to divulge the American’s name, but a state newspaper, Arab News, identified him as Abdullatif Ibrahim Bilal. He is reportedly the brother of Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal and Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, who are awaiting sentencing by a U.S. court after pleading guilty to charges of conspiring to help the Al Qaeda terrorist network and Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime and to violating firearms laws.