Saudi Arabia is issuing global arrest warrants for 47 suspected al Qaeda militants possibly hiding in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iraq. It's believed the group has tried to build cells inside the top oil exporter.

The Interior Ministry says some of the 47 militants hold senior functions inside al Qaeda.

Mansour Al-Turki, Saudi Interior Ministry Spokesman, said, "One of their main goals is really to establish terrorist cells inside the kingdom to recruit Saudis and have them actually to be trained somewhere and to carry out whatever they ask them to."

The announcement follows Saudi Arabia's arrest of 149 militants in November. They were suspected of running cells in Saudi Arabia and sent militants to training camps in Yemen and Somalia. The ministry says some of the 47 had connections with the previously arrested. The average age of the suspects is 26.

Al Qaeda launched a campaign to destabilize US ally Saudi Arabia in 2003 which was brought to a halt after a campaign of arrests.