Posted on 06/18/2004 4:25:43 PM PDT by MikeA
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 Jr.'s body.
The killing of Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, 31, would be a coup for the Saudi goverment, which has been under intense pressure to halt a wave of attacks against Westerners in the kingdom.
The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite station, which first reported al-Moqrin's death, said two other militants were also killed in the raid, and another was wounded and arrested. All three dead militants were on Saudi Arabia's list of most wanted men, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Two suspects escaped, he said, said one Saudi security official who took part in the raid.
Al-Moqrin, who trained with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, is believed to be the leader of the group calling itself al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which claimed responsibility for Johnson's beheading.
Al-Moqrin's group has also claimed responsibility for most attacks against Westerners in Saudi Arabia in the past two months.
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Associated Press writer Katherine Pfleger Shrader in Washington contributed to this report.
They should cover his head in pig guts and then put it on a pike as a warning to future terrorists.
It should be 1 American Death for every 10,000 terrorists....
Congresional Democrats are demanding an investigation of this brutal police action!
I hope this is followed by a massive crackdown against al qaeda to ensure that no westerner is ever kidnapped again.
Yes, no doubt the Democrats and their media lapdogs will be calling the sending to hell of this cockroach an "extension of the Abu Ghirab prison abuse scandal" and demand sanctions against the Saudis.
Good shooting.
I'm agreeing with that philosophy more and more every day.
I wish I could believe that the Saudi's didn't know who the killers were before they killed Mr Johnson and waited for him to be killed.
I believe they knew and waited for it to happen because saving a Westerner would require a political price to be paid.
If true, it couldn't happen to a nicer swine.
>> A good start ... several hundred million to go!
I like the figure of 1 billion better.
If they knew where this scum was, why didn't they pick him up before Johnson was killed? There's something about this story that doesn't sound right.
Remember: If Kerry were President, he would have had these guys arrested and brought to the US for trial.
Seeing is believing. Stretch him out on a cold slab and let's take a look. Just like those Hussein boys.
No kidding. This is awfully convenient for the two-faced Saudi government...JFK
a news reports that just came on Yahoo says that all three men killed were on their wanted list...and two guys got away.
Saudi "security forces" need some help.
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