Saudi Official Denies Wanted Militant Killed ( al-Qaida cleric not killed)

AP ^ | June 29, 2004

[nuconvert]

Saudi Official Denies Wanted Militant Killed Abdullah

Al-Shihri/Associated Press

Jul 1, 2004

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - A senior Saudi official denied Thursday that a militant killed in a shootout with police was a cleric believed to be the chief ideologist for al-Qaida in the region. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press Wednesday in Riyadh that the man slain during a car chase and shootout with police was Abdullah Mohammed Rashid al-Roshoud, one of Saudi's most wanted terror suspects. Saudi and other Arab TV stations and newspapers also widely reported that al-Roshoud had been killed.

But Prince Sattam bin Abdel-Aziz, the deputy governor of Riyadh, said al-Roshoud had not been killed in Wednesday's clash.

He stressed, however, that the militant killed was "a terrorist who was no less dangerous than him (al-Roshoud) who carried out several terrorist acts in the kingdom."

An Interior Ministry statement released Thursday identified the militant as Fahd bin Ali bin Dakhil el-Qaelan.

Al-Roshoud, a former high school professor of Islamic studies, had called for a holy war against the Saudi royal family and Western interests in the Persian Gulf.

Abdel-Aziz, speaking after burial prayers for a policeman killed in the fighting, refused to reveal the name of the militant killed Wednesday or say if he was on a list of 26 most wanted militants in Saudi.

He added that a statement would be issued later.

Six security personnel and three bystanders also were wounded in the shootout in Riyadh's al-Quds neighborhood, an Interior Ministry statement said Wednesday.

The clash came after Saudi Arabian King Fahd offered last week not to execute militant fugitives who surrender to police within one month. They would still face trial, however.

Separately, Saudi militant Othman Hadi Al Maqboul al-Amri, who surrendered on Monday, went on state television to say he regrets his past and to urge his comrades to turn themselves in as well.

"This is not a ploy. It is a generous amnesty which they (militants) should not hesitate to take and surrender," al-Amri said al-Amri, who had primarily been involved in smuggling weapons.

During the past year, Saudi Arabia has been rocked by suicide bombings, gunbattles and kidnappings targeting foreign workers. The attacks have been blamed on al-Qaida and sympathizers of the anti-Western terror network headed by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden. Al-Qaida wants to topple the Saudi royal family and replace it with its own Islamic government.

At least 12 of the 26 militants on a state-issued most wanted list are either dead or in custody.

[river rat]

In Saudi Arabia, tis safer to believe in the tooth fairy -- than to believe a Saudi state spokesperson....

In Saudi Arabia -- HOME of Wahhabi sect lunatics and financing for the exportation of Wahhabi extremism -- there are only 26 "militants" (NOT Terrorists) on the most wanted list!!!! This in itself would be laughable, if it were not so tragic and insane....

An honest Arab - of which there must be few in Saudi Arabia - could put together a list of 10's of thousands -- with all the militant hate mongering Wahhabi clerics at the top of the list... I suspect a number of members of the "Royal" House of Saud have earned a place on that list......without doubt.

Saudi Arabia is a LONG way from convincing this observer, that they are COMMITTED allies in the war against terrorism..

How can they be? Their state controlled media continues to blame the Jews and Americans for all the evil in the world.... Saudi Arabia is the diseased old whore that gave birth to the militant Islamic monster -- which sooner or later must be destroyed...

Semper Fi