UAE condemns "terrorist crime" targeting Grand Mosque in Makkah

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) foreign minister on Saturday condemned the "heinous terrorist crime" targeting the Holy Mosque in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, said UAE state news agency, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

The UAE stands "in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud," Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said.

"This heinous crime exposes the extent of terrorism and the savagery of those terrorist groups, and no one in their right mind can justify or explain it," said Sheikh Abdullah.

It will make "us more formidable and determined to eliminate terrorism," he added.

Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman said on Friday that it foiled a terror attack that targeted the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

The operation was plotted by a terror group in three sites, one in Jeddah and two in Makkah, Al Arabiya local news quoted the spokesman as saying.

It said the police raided the two sites in Makkah, including one near the central area of the mosque.

-- BERNAMA