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AL-QAEDA has named Saleh Al-Awfi, a disgraced former prison guard and ex-Madina car dealer, as Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin s successor to head the terrorist organization s Saudi Arabia cell, according to sources. Al-Awfi s reported appointment demonstrates the damage Al-Qaeda sustained when Al-Muqrin, responsible for the Friday beheading of American Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr., was killed by security forces several hours later in a firefight in Riyadh. Muqrin was killed with three other extremists identified by security forces as Faisal Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Dakheel, Fehaid Al-Mutairi and Ibrahim Al-Duraihem. Meanwhile, the search for Johnson s body continued late Sunday with...

CAIRO, Egypt - The al-Qaida cell that kidnapped and killed American Paul M. Johnson Jr. said in an online periodical Sunday that sympathizers in the kingdom's security forces supplied it with police uniforms and vehicles and set up fake checkpoints to facilitate last week's abduction. The details of the kidnapping appeared in Sawt al-Jihad, or Voice of Holy War, a semimonthly online periodical published by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. A separate article, the final one written by cell leader Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, killed in a shootout Friday night, justified Johnson's slaying. The first article said militants wearing police uniforms and...

CAIRO, Egypt - The head of the al-Qaida cell that killed Paul M. Johnson Jr. justified targeting the American engineer in a message written before he himself was killed in a gunbattle with Saudi security forces. In an article posted Sunday on a Web site used by Islamic radicals, Abdulaziz al-Moqrin called Johnson "an infidel, a warrior of the military." Johnson, who had worked on Apache helicopters for Lockheed Martin in Saudi Arabia, "works for military aviation and he belongs to the American army, which kills, tortures and harms Muslims everywhere, which supports enemies (of Islam) in Palestine, Philippines, Kashmir...

June 19, 2004 — RIYADH (Reuters) - Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia confirmed Saturday the killing of its leader Abdulaziz al-Muqrin and three other militants by Saudi security forces in Riyadh, the al-Qalaa Web site said. "On Friday, the leader Abdulaziz al-Muqrin was martyred along with three others...in an ambush carried out by the soldiers of the despot (in Saudi Arabia). They opened fire on them in a sudden way which led to their killing," said a statement attributed to al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi TV broadcast pictures Saturday of four bloodied bodies reportedly those of al-Qaida's top leader in the country and three other militants, who Saudi officials said were slain in a gunbattle after killing an American hostage. The al-Qaida cell allegedly led by Abdulaziz al-Moqrin fulfilled its threat to kill engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., beheading him and showing grisly photos on the Internet on Friday. The slaying drew a chorus of condemnation from around the world, with even one of America's staunchest foes, Syria, calling it a "shameful crime." Saudi officials said that al-Moqrin and...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Before he was slain Friday night by Saudi security forces, Abdulaziz al-Moqrin was an angry young man regarded as an up-and-coming figure in the world of international terrorism. Moqrin, who grew up in Riyadh's Suweidi district, joined Jordan-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose terror cell was responsible for dozens of car bombings in Iraq, as the most visible new leaders of a terrorist movement that had become more diffuse since U.S.-led troops destroyed the Afghanistan base of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida. Moqrin, who was believed to have a longtime relationship with bin Laden, was driven by revenge...

Saudis kill al-Qaeda mastermind By Anna Cock in New York June 20, 2004 ONE of the world's most wanted terrorists was reportedly shot dead yesterday, a few hours after his militant group beheaded an American defence contractor. Abdulaziz al-Muqrin who Saudi police shot dead. Saudi authorities said Abd al-Aziz al-Muqrin was killed with three other wanted terrorists in the capital, Riyadh, while they were trying to dispose of the body. The raids followed the execution of Paul Johnson, who worked in Saudi Arabia for the aerospace company Lockheed Martin, which makes Apache helicopter gunships. Video footage of the grisly killing...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi television on Saturday showed the pictures of four militants it said were killed in a shootout that broke out after the slaying of an American hostage, and one of the dead was said to be the reputed al-Qaida leader in the kingdom. The Interior Ministry's renewed claims that Abdulaziz al-Moqrin was among the dead came shortly after a message on an Islamic militant Web site said the reports of al-Moqrin's saying were false. Al-Moqrin is the kingdom's most-wanted terror suspect and was believed to be the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Paul M. Johnson...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi TV broadcast pictures Saturday of four bloodied bodies that authorities identified as the reputed leader of al-Qaida in the kingdom and three other militants killed in a gunbattle after dumping the mutilated body of an American hostage. The al-Qaida cell allegedly led by Abdulaziz al-Moqrin fulfilled its threat to kill engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., beheading him and showing grisly photos on the Internet on Friday. The slaying drew a chorus of condemnation from around the world, with even one of America's staunchest foes, Syria, calling it a "shameful crime." The death of al-Moqrin, 31,...

CAIRO, Egypt -- A message posted on an Islamic militant Web site Saturday denied that the leader of the al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia had been killed.

<p>Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jun. 19 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida network, which beheaded a U.S. hostage, denied Saturday its main operative in Saudi Arabia, Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin, was killed by Saudi police.</p> <p>But Saudi officials said four al-Qaida terrorists, including al-Muqrin, were killed by police officers during a raid in Riyadh Friday night, hours the militants cut the head of Paul Johnson Jr. from his body.</p>

Web Site Denies Cell Leader Killed Saturday, June 19, 2004 CAIRO, Egypt — A message posted on an Islamic militant Web site Saturday denied that the leader of the Al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia had been killed. Abdulaziz al-Moqrin (search) had purportedly overseen the kinapping of Paul M. Johnson, the American whose decapitated body was found on Friday in Riyadh. Saudi officials claimed al-Moqrin, the reputed leader of the group calling itself Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (search), was killed in a shootout after Johnson's body was found. "Some satellite networks and news agencies have been propagating the...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - An al-Qaida cell beheaded American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., and in a swift retaliation, officials said Saudi security forces tracked down and killed the leader of the terrorist group in a shoot-out Friday. Johnson, who was kidnapped last weekend, was the latest victim of an escalating campaign of violence against Westerners that aims to drive foreign workers from the country and undermine the ruling royal family, hated by al-Qaida. The death hours later of Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the reputed leader of al-Qaida in the kingdom, was a coup for the Saudi government, which has been...

RIYADH (Reuters) - Al Qaeda militants in Saudi Arabia beheaded American hostage Paul Johnson Friday and their leader was then killed in a shootout with security forces as he tried to dispose of the body, Saudi officials said. Abdulaziz al-Muqrin's Islamist group displayed photographs of the 49-year-old aviation engineer's severed head on a Web site. Shortly afterwards, as Muqrin and two other top militants deposited the body in the capital Riyadh, they were surrounded by Saudi security men and gunned down, a security source said. Muqrin, a young man driven by revenge and hatred for the United States and its...

Jun 18, 6:22 PM (ET) RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - The leader of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia was believed killed in a raid in the capital Friday, hours after his group claimed the beheading of an American engineer, Saudi security officials said. A U.S. official confirmed that al-Moqrin has been killed. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information. To establish identities, one Saudi official said forensic tests would be conducted on three bodies of militants killed in a shootout in a downtown neighborhood shortly after the discovery of Paul M. Johnson...

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MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - A man identified as al-Qaida's chief in the Saudi region claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in the kingdom's oil hub on a tape posted on the Internet Sunday. The unauthenticated tape was posted on a Web site known for militant Muslim comment along with a written statement about the attack that was characterized by contempt for non-Muslims. The speaker who identifies himself as Abdul Aziz al-Moqrin, believed to lead al-Qaida operations in Saudi Arabia and surrounding countries, describes attackers "slaughtering" hostages, specifying they included an Italian, an American a Japanese and a Briton. On the...

For Release Monday, May 31 A Look at the New Generation of Terrorist Leaders The Associated Press May 30, 2004 A look at world's new generation of terrorist leaders: ABU MUSAB AL-ZARQAWI Former commander for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, 38-year-old Jordanian has links to terrorist groups from North Africa to Caucuses. Allegedly maintains ties to al-Qaida and believed to be leading resistance to Iraq's occupation. CIA says Zarqawi was black-clad militant who decapitated American Nicholas Berg. Also believed to have had hand in March 11 bombings in Madrid, Spain, failed chemical attack in Jordan and numerous attacks in Iraq....