No soldiers or military vehicles were seen on the streets of Mecca today, where authorities took extreme security precautions against terrorist strikes. A police source in Mecca refuted reports that some 5,000 soldiers are there, saying that the Public Security Directorate had stationed 5,000 additional policemen and Civil Defense personnel in the city, but nobody from the army or the National Guard. Government officials in Riyadh confirmed this was done after security forces smashed a suspected Al-Qaeda cell in the area last week, accusing the militants of preparing an attack on the faithful.

The number of policemen and police cars in the streets has increased considerably since yesterday morning - especially in the central area around the Holy Mosque, said Akram Adbu Allah, a 22-year-old Saudi student currently in Mecca. A police officer in Medina, who gave his name only as Mohammad, told The Saudi Gazette that additional police were brought into the city to check passports and man checkpoints.

Residents of Medina also reported that more police had been deployed in and near the city during the last few days. "The number of checkpoints has been increased and they are spread all over Medina, even in places where we are not used to seeing them," said Ebraheem Saleh, a 42-year-old Saudi from Medina.

Public Security Directorate personnel are sent every year to Mecca and Medina during the Umrah pilgrimage season in Ramadan and the Haj. But in recent weeks increased security measures were taken after police uncovered evidence of planned attacks on pilgrims during raids on militant hideouts in Mecca and the capital Riyadh. Among the items found were booby-trapped copies of the Holy Quran, souvenir clocks resembling the holy book and water bottles stuffed with explosives, which pilgrims normally carry into the shrines.

Special regard was given to checkpoints, monitoring and supervising, a source within the Interior Ministry told The Saudi Gazette on condition of anonymity. "We are maximizing our efforts to ensure visitors security and relaxation during their stay." All alerts should be respected and taken into consideration, an official called Al-Musaibeeh said, referring to renewed alerts by foreign governments of further terrorists attacks in Saudi Arabia.

Travel sources said that more foreign Umrah visitors have arrived in Mecca than by this time last year, confirming that the recent shootout in the city and the suicide bomb attack on an Arab housing compound in Riyadh have not affected Umrah traffic.

The last ten years have witnessed a growing number of people performing the Umrah and spending the last ten days of Ramadan in Mecca, Al-Musaibeeh said. All these years have passed safely due to the Kingdom's increasing care for the pilgrims' safety and security. In Saudi Arabia, 7 million Moslem or non-Moslem expatriates live and work peacefully, said Al-Musaibeeh, and 14 million are trying to get a visa to the Kingdom. "Do you expect them to stay or encourage their own people to come if it is not safe here?"