DHAKA: Trapped between Al Qaida in Yemen and Isis (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) in Iraq, Saudi Arabia is facing a looming terrorism threat across the border.

Warn experts on terrorism, reports gulfnews.com.

Hundreds of Saudi fighters joining other groups abroad make the external threat to Saudi Arabia ‘bigger’ than the internal threat from ‘sleeping cells’, they added.

Saudi security officials, meanwhile, have raised alerts to deal with the increasing threats.

Terrorism is threatening everybody, and ‘Saudi Arabia is a target, definitely’, said Hassan Abu Hanieh, a researcher and analyst of Islamist groups based in Amman.

Referring to the high number of ‘Saudi jihadists’ abroad — the term researchers use to refer to Saudi fighters in extremist groups in Yemen and Iraq — Abu Hanieh added, ‘I believe the biggest danger to Saudi Arabia is coming from abroad much more than within’.

While it seems difficult to eliminate the growing threat of Al Qaida in Yemen and Isil in Iraq in the foreseeable future, the expert warned that the ‘rebound of this danger, with the presence of Saudi fighters, grows’.

According to Abu Hanieh, there are nearly 1,400 Saudis among the ranks of Isis in Iraq and Syria, and there are some 700 Saudis among the ranks of Al Qaida in Yemen.

Alarmed by the high number of citizens fighting alongside extremists abroad, Saudi authorities had announced earlier this year it would jail up to 20 years anyone who fights in conflicts abroad.

BDST: 1612 HRS, JUL 12, 2014