Regards, Ivan
Posted on 07/21/2004 3:17:03 PM PDT by MadIvan
THE severed head of an American hostage was found hidden in the family hideout of al-Qaeda’s leader in Saudi Arabia during a botched raid by security forces.
Police made the gruesome discovery of Paul Johnson’s head wrapped in polythene and stored in a freezer alongside bundles of food during the biggest security operation seen in the kingdom against Islamic militants.
FBI agents are investigating whether the villa in Riyadh was where the US defence contractor was murdered last month by terrorists who filmed his death.
After a six-hour gunbattle, police arrested the wife and three children of the al-Qaeda chief, Saleh al-Oufi, and found cash, chemicals and missiles that could have been used to shoot down aircraft. Oufi and seven of his key lieutenants escaped.
The 38-year-old former Saudi police officer somehow slipped out of the building during the siege and apparently drove to the opposite end of the sprawling city, where he was being hunted by police last night.
Witnesses said that armoured personnel carriers were among the 100 vehicles deployed during the attack in the King Fahd neighbourhood in northern Riyadh.
Two militants, including one on the kingdom’s most wanted list, were killed in the shoot-out, as were an undisclosed number of police.
Security forces came under rocket fire during the battle which began after a massive explosion was heard inside the building.
Western diplomats in the capital believe that the terrorists were priming bombs ready to use against Western targets in Riyadh to signal their response to the end of a month-long amnesty offered to militants.
There was a huge cache of guns and ammunition, SAM-7 missiles, grenades, computers and chemicals for making explosives inside the family villa, as well as more than £60,000. It was several hours after police took control of the villa that they made their find in a kitchen freezer.
The discovery of Mr Johnson’s head came barely a week after his family were told that the FBI and local security agencies had given up hope of discovering his remains. The rest of his body has not been found. US officials would not say last night whether FBI agents in the capital will renew their hunt.
Saudi officials are hopeful that three militants arrested at the building may know what happened to his corpse.
Mr Johnson was the third US defence worker to be killed in ten days during a spate of attacks aimed at driving Westerners out of the kingdom.
One Western diplomat said last night: “The question is why the authorities failed to find this hideout before and whether the militants have been carrying around Mr Johnson’s head as some sort of trophy for over a month.” Officials believe the militants would have been likely to have paraded the 49-year-old engineer’s head on Islamic websites this weekend to mark the end of the amnesty as their way of further terrorising expatriate workers.
Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, the self-proclaimed al-Qaeda leader who boasted on film of killing the helicopter engineer, was shot dead just hours after murdering Mr Johnson.
The American was kidnapped outside his home on June 12 and seen on video blindfolded and pleading for his life before he was beheaded six days later.
The Saudis will not say if testimony from militants rounded up in recent days led them to the villa or whether it was the terrorists detonating one of their own devices by accident that alerted them.
The kingdom has been bracing itself for a new eruption of violence as the royal pardon expires and the Saudi authorities pledge an all-out attack to wind up the remaining al-Qaeda cells.
Militant groups have shown their contempt for the deal by saying that they are ready to renew their campaign against British and American expatriates working in the kingdom.
Thousands have left and the authorities fear that another bomb attack will drive away more.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Give the scumbag a date with the Turk.
If the saudis were serious about cracking down on terrorism they would cut off the heads of the wife and kids in the house where they found it.
They won't
I'm not sure these individuals should even be classified as human.
Use it for polo?
The Saudis are improving. They actually had the terrorists pinned down for 6 hours before the terrorists 'escaped.'
Well, that is pretty darn disgusting.
If the saudis were serious about cracking down on terrorism they would cut off the heads of the wife and kids in the house where they found it.
Too many nations have adhered to the mantra: "Keep feeding the alligator in the back yard in the hopes he won't eat you." IMO, the alligator has gone roaming and no one is safe.
It reminds me Jeffrey Dahlmer....
"After a six-hour gunbattle, ...Oufi and seven of his key lieutenants escaped."
Eight men escape from a siege on their own.
Yeah, sure.
Now for Miss Marple's nasty comment: I bet when the guy was feeling a little bit "un-manly" he took it out and looked at it for inspiration.
Yeah, okay.................
Think about the kind of person who would decapitate a hostage. Not very different from a serial killer, really.
What do you think serial killers do with their lives? In a society like ours, they don't have socially acceptable outlets for their perversion. But in a Muslim country, they can become terrorists.
Mom - "Kids don't mind the infidel's head in the freezer".
Kid #1 - "Does this mean we keep ice cream in the basement ice box?"
Kid #2 to neighbor kid - "Have I got something to show you..."
Obviously the Saudi security forces are not very eager to do their job. Their sympathies must be with the terrorists, or this wouldn't keep happening.
If the Saudis don't exploit the horror of keeping a severed head in a freezer as something really, really sick they are missing a bet.
People who think that they are going to inflict some sort of spiritual punishment, or have notions of "polluting" a persons manner of death.
But in a Muslim country, they can become terrorists.
Yes.......which usually equates with being a hero.
Cloaked in their invisibility suits I'm sure.
People who want to inflict mayhem, whether IRA, Al Qaeda, or Shining Path, simply hook it up to a political cause and become "heroes."
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