The bombings, which caused no known casualties, were claimed by the North Yemen-based Nasserite organisation Union of the People of the Arabian Peninsula [ittihad sha'b al-jazira al-'arabiyya] (UPAP).
[1] 20 November–4 December (See Grand Mosque Seizure) – number of militants took over the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca to protest the House of Saud's policies of Westernization.
30 September – four Shi'ite men are beheaded for blowing up fuel storage tanks[2] at the Saudi Petrochemical Company (SADAF) facility in Jubail.
"[4] In late 2001, a Sudanese man with links to Al-Qaeda fired an SA-7 at an American F-15 Eagle fighter taking off from Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
21 April A suicide bomber detonates a car bomb in Riyadh at the gates of a building used as the headquarters of the traffic police and emergency services.
1 May (See: Black Saturday (2004)) Seven people (two US citizens, two Britons, an Australian, a Canadian, and a Saudi) are killed in a rampage at the premises of a petroleum company in Yanbu by three brothers.
6 June Simon Cumbers, an Irish cameraman for the BBC, is killed and the reporter Frank Gardner very severely wounded by gunshots to his head in Riyadh.
[18][19][20][21] 13 June One US expatriate Kenneth Scroggs is killed and another Paul Johnson working for Lockheed Martin is kidnapped at a fake police checkpoint in Riyadh.
A few hours later security services kill five militants (Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin, Turki Al-Muteri, Ibrahim Al-Durayhim and two others).
On Al-Amal Al-Saleh Street, police capture four unnamed militants and seize eight AKs and hundreds of locally-made bombs.
6 December Invasion of U.S. Consulate in Jeddah: Five employees are killed as five Al-Qaeda militants attack outbuildings and the chancery building before Saudi forces retake the property.
13 March Saudi security forces in Jeddah conduct an early-morning raid that kills one (Saed al-Youbi) labeled as a terrorist.
Fifteen terrorists, including Saleh Al-Aufi, reportedly the Al-Qaeda leader for Saudi Arabia were killed along with Talib Saud Al-Talib, also on the list of the 26 most-wanted piersons.
Students at a nearby girls' school were in danger from the fire and were evacuated by police who broke down the rear wall to their building.
[24] 7 April Using information from the previous raid, security services killed Abdul Rahman Al-Yaziji, number four on the most-wanted list in a firefight in the Southern Industrial District of Riyadh.
22 April A group of four insurgents dressed as women attempt to bluff their way past a security checkpoint near the holy city of Makkah.
The battle took place as the Western Region of Saudi Arabia was conducting its first-ever elections for local government councils.
18 May The United States Embassy issues a message that revokes the travel advisory for Saudi Arabia that had been in effect for a year.
19 June Lt Colonel Mubarak Al-Sawat, a senior police commander in Makkah, was killed outside his home as he got in his car on his way to work.
21 June The killers of Lt Colonel Mubarak Al-Sawat are killed by security forces after a long fire-fight on the Old Makkah Road in the Holy City.
24 June An internet site linked to Al-Qaeda in Iraq reports that Abdullah, one of the few persons on the list of 26 Saudis most wanted has been killed by a US bomb.
If true, this would leave only two persons ( Saleh Al-Aufi, the alleged leader of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, and Taleb Al-Taleb) on that list unaccounted for.
20 July The US Embassy warns US citizens in Saudi Arabia to lower their profile and be on alert due to intelligence indicating preparations were being made for a terrorist attack.
The US Embassy restricts the travel of US military personnel in the Kingdom to home and office only in light of intelligence indicating planning for a militant strike.
Two pick-up trucks carrying two would-be bombers tried to enter the side gate to the Abqaiq plant in the Eastern Province, the largest oil processing facilities in the world (more than 60% of Saudi production), but the attackers detonated their explosives after security guards fired on them, according to statements from Saudi's interior and oil ministries.
27 February In a series of predawn raids sparked by the attack on Abqaiq, Saudi security forces killed five unnamed militants (in Al-Yarmouk) and captured another (in Al-Rawabi).
[3] On 17 November 2008, Somali pirates captured the Saudi owned oil tanker MV Sirius Star with 25 crew members on board.
[25] In August, an attempt was made on the life of Saudi Prince and counterintelligence chief Mohammed bin Nayef by al Qaeda operative Abdullah Hasan Tali al-Asiri, who died after detonating an underwear bomb.
[26] On 26 August 2012, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of 2 Saudis and 6 Yemenis in Riyadh and Jeddah who had been preparing explosives for attacks within the kingdom.
The terrorist fled but was chased down by security officers and surrounded inside a home located in the industrial district in the southern part of Abqaiq.