Dubai, Jun 24 (Agencies): Security forces in Saudi Arabia thwarted a terror attack on the Mecca Grand Mosque and worshippers there, the country's Interior Ministry has said.

The attack on Friday had been planned by a group stationed at three locations, Khaleej Times reported citing Arab News which quoted the Interior Ministry's statement.

A security spokesperson said that one of the sites was in the province of Jeddah, and the two others were in Mecca.

The first was in the neighbourhood of Asilah, and the second in Ajyad Al Masafi, located within the perimeter of the central area of the Grand Mosque, the spokesman said.

One site was a three-storey house where the suicide bomber tasked with the crime was stationed. He blew himself up when surrounded by security forces.

The Interior Ministry said an attack on the mosque was being planned by three terrorist groups, two based in Mecca and a third in Jeddah.

Al-Arabiya said a suicide bomber hiding in a house in the Ajyad al-Masafi neighborhood of Mecca opened fire on security forces and later blew himself up. Five security force members and six other people were injured, the report said.

The United Arab Emirates has strongly condemned the terror crime.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in a statement, condemned the crime in the strongest words, and said the heinous crime shows the level to which the brutality of these terrorists has reached.

"No sane person can give any justification or explanation for such a crime," the statement said.