Manama: Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz was targeted for assasination by “enemies of Islam” because of his commitment to serve Muslims, Saudi Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Al Shaikh has said.

He was commenting on the plot to kill the Saudi king in Malaysia last week.

Malaysian authorities have arrested a group of suspects who had plotted to carry out terror attacks on members of the Saudi royalty during their visit.

“The enemies have become more enraged, confused and hateful when they saw the profound love of the people for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the political honours and tributes accorded to him during his visits,” the Grand Mufti said, quoted by Saudi news site Sabq on Thursday.

“Such a conspiracy is not unusual by the enemies of true Islam,” he said. Malaysia last week said that it had foiled a plot by four Yemeni suspects to attack Saudi royalty.

Malaysian daily The Star said that the militants were aged between 26 and 33, and that one of them “worked as a cook at a restaurant specialising in Yemeni dishes, another was a student at a private university while the other two were jobless.”

The suspects were detained during raids between February 21 and 26.

King Salman is on a month-long tour of several Asian countries that started on February 26.

He has so far visited Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei and is scheduled to visit Japan, China, and the Maldives before heading to Jordan for the Arab summit.