Saudi Arabian authorities have foiled an attempt by three suspected Al Qaeda militants to hijack a passenger plane and crash it into a building in Jeddah, CNN reported on Wednesday.

The three were arrested at the airport before they boarded a Saudia flight, the kingdom's national carrier, to Sudan, the report quoting sources said. The men had knives and wills on them when they were arrested.

The sources said the men were members of the same Al Qaeda cell that carried out last week's suicide bombings at three residential compounds in Riyadh that left 34 people, including eight Americans dead.

The arrested persons, however, were not believed to be perpetrators of the suicide attacks, the sources said. One of them was on the Saudi most-wanted list.

Amid intelligence reports of fresh attacks in the kingdom, Britain, US, Canada and Germany had closed their embassies for the public.