Authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested more than 40 suspected militants in raids across the Kingdom.

The Saudi interior ministry said they suspected at least 27 of the men of having links to radical Islamic groups.

State television reported that four suspected terrorists, including an Iraqi, were arrested in a raid at their hideout in the northeastern town of Hafr al-Baten.

The raid led to the arrest of "nine Saudis involved in terrorism" it added, quoting an Interior Ministry statement.

It said another 27 men were arrested across the vast desert kingdom, in Mecca, the Eastern Province and the northern border region, including 24 Saudis, two Somalis and an Ethiopian.

The ministry of interior said the 27 men were involved in "suspicious activities" connected to radical Islamist groups.

A security source told Reuters those arrested formed part of a wider cell of some 50 people which had been broken up, involving a shoot-out on Friday in which six people were killed.

Weapons and documents were reportedly seized in the raid on the desert hideout...