Saudis arrest bomb suspects

Saudi authorities have been trying to crack down on al-Qaeda

Saudi police have arrested five men suspected of involvement in the suicide bombings in Riyadh that left 34 people dead, the country's interior minister has announced.

The alleged mastermind of the 12 May attacks, Ali Abdulrahman al-Ghamdi, is among the detainees, an unnamed Saudi source told the Reuters news agency.

The US and Saudi Governments have blamed the al-Qaeda network, led by Saudi-born Osama Bin Laden, for the bombings.

The arrests took place in the holy city of Medina in the past several days, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz told the official Saudi Press Agency.

Several Saudi newspapers reported the arrests on Wednesday, but differed as to the number of people arrested.

Earlier arrests

Saudi authorities announced 10 days ago that they had detained four men suspected of involvement in the bombings.

Prince Nayef said they were among 19 suspected al-Qaeda members identified earlier in May.

The blasts destroyed buildings

Security forces raided the cell's hide-out ahead of the attacks, but the suspects escaped after a gun battle. Police recovered a huge cache of weapons in the raid.

Three members of the cell are believed to have been among the group that carried out the suicide bombings.

About 200 people were wounded in the attacks, which targeted residential compounds housing mostly foreigners.

Nine attackers drove cars packed with explosives into the compounds and detonated them.

US and UK law enforcement authorities have travelled to Saudi Arabia to examine the scene, but are reportedly not taking part in the investigation itself.