Saudi naval forces foil attack on offshore oil field

Riyadh - The captured boat was carrying weapons "for subversive purposes"

The Saudi navy seized a boat carrying weapons as it approached the Kingdom's offshore Marjan oilfield in the Gulf on Friday evening, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday.
Official sources told the news agency that the attack happened on Friday at 8:28pm.
Two other boats that also approached Marjan managed to escape after the Saudi navy fired warning shots, the agency reported. The captured boat was carrying weapons "for subversive purposes", the brief SPA report said.
Three small boats bearing red and white flags entered Saudi territorial waters in the Arabian Gulf and headed at speed towards the Saudi oil field of Marjan, sources say.
According to SPA, the boats did not respond to warning shots by Saudi naval forces before one was captured and found to be carrying weapons "for subversive" purposes. The other two escaped.
"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stresses its determination to combat and eradicate terrorism and its sources, as a part of the country's permanent objective to protect its national security against any external aggression," SPA said.

It is not clear yet whether the source was suggesting the boats came from Qatar, which has a flag matching the description.

• Saudi Arabia