The United Arab Emirates has announced the break-up of a group that was allegedly planning to carry out attacks in the region.

According to the state news agency WAM, the group included citizens of Saudi Arabia and the UAE and had acquired materials and equipment for carrying out attacks in both countries.

“The security authorities in the UAE, in coordination with the related security parties in Saudi Arabia, announced the arrest of an organized cell from the deviant group that was planning to carry out actions against national security of both countries and some sisterly states,” reported WAM.

Local media reported in September that the UAE, a major oil exporter, regional business hub and United States ally, had detained more than 60 local members of an Islamist group called Al Islah, who confessed its motif of establishing an Islamic state by force.