Andrea Bleicher, Special to Arab News

BERN, Switzerland, 10 January 2004 — In their first widespread raids on alleged Al-Qaeda supporters, Swiss police have arrested eight foreigners suspected of links to suicide attacks on Westerners in Saudi Arabia, officials said yesterday.

Around 100 federal police officers supported by state police took part in simultaneous raids on dwellings across the country Thursday, the Swiss Federal Police said.

“The police action was in the context of terrorism investigations, especially in connection with the May 12 attack in Riyadh,” it said.

Those arrested are being held on suspicion of providing logistical support to a criminal organization, the police said in a statement.

“The eight people arrested are not Swiss,” Daniele Bersier of the Federal Police Office added. “But I cannot tell you which countries they come from because the investigation is not yet finished. They are not all Muslims but come from different backgrounds.” Al-Qaeda has been blamed by Saudi officials for a number of suicide bombings in the country last year. The Saudi Arabian Embassy in Switzerland could not be reached for comment. The most recent attack in Riyadh occurred in November when 18 people were killed and more than 100 were injured in a housing compound.

The arrests were part of a coordinated nationwide operation that included searches in five states from Geneva to Zurich and the interrogation of about 20 people.

The police statement said the arrests were a result of an investigation that was begun soon after the bombings.

The suspects are being held in investigative detention. Because of the continuing investigation the police declined to give further details, and refused to disclose the nationality of those arrested or say what was found in the searches.

“We are at the beginning of the investigation,” said Andrea Sadecky, spokeswoman from the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office.

It was unclear whether this would indicate a shift in the official Swiss position that Switzerland did not play a central role in the financing, preparation or conduct of terror attacks. The office has been conducting extensive investigations into possible links to the Al-Qaeda terror network since September 2001.

Authorities have disclosed that Mohamed Atta and another member of the hijacking teams in the Sept. 11 terror attacks passed through Switzerland briefly.

Investigators also have said senior leaders of Al-Qaeda have used Swiss cell phones to communicate within the terrorist network.

Swiss officials have so far blocked 82 bank accounts containing 34 million Swiss francs ($28 million) in connection with investigations into Al-Qaeda and the allied Taleban, which formerly ruled Afghanistan.