US Embassy issues a warning to oil workers of possible militant kidnap threat in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia has issued a warning about a potential militant plot to kidnap Western oil workers.

The warning, issued late Friday, said officials received information about a threat to kidnap the workers, including Americans, from oil fields in the kingdom's Eastern province.

The embassy said it had "no further information on the timing, target, location or method of any planned attacks." The Saudi government and its official Saudi Press Agency made no immediate mention of the warning.

From 2003 to 2007, al-Qaida-linked militants carried out attacks in Saudi Arabia aimed at destabilizing the Western-allied monarchy, including deadly bombings of residential compounds housing foreigners in Riyadh in 2003. The kingdom now is taking part in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group.