'Militant cell planned to assassinate top state clerics'

A recently uncovered cell of Islamic militants planned to kill Saudi Arabia's grand mufti and another top cleric, reported the daily Okaz Thursday. Quoting an unnamed security official, the paper reported that the 24-member militant cell planned to assassinate Grand Mufti Sheik Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Sheik, the country's highest religious authority, and Sheik Saleh Al Fawzan of the Supreme Council of Clerics. Al-Sheik had previously issued several religious edicts against joining the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan and said that young Saudis are being used as "tools to carry out heinous acts"