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Date: Saturday, 19 June, 2004 Profile: Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, al-Qaeda's reputed leader in Saudi Arabia reported killed on Saturday, was a veteran of conflicts around the world. The 31-year-old Saudi national took up the extremist cause as a teenager and is believed to have trained with fellow Saudi Osama Bin Laden. Driven by hatred of Saudi Arabia's pro-US monarchy, he led a series of recent attacks to destabilise the country. His group claimed responsibility for killing US hostage Paul Johnson. Muqrin, Saudi Arabia's most wanted man, is believed to have earned his credentials as a fighter in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. Much later, he was involved in the Taleban's battle against US-led forces there. Reward Muqrin also fought in Algeria, Bosnia, and the Horn of Africa. He was captured in Ethiopia in the late 1990s while fighting alongside Somali separatists and extradited to Saudi Arabia where he was sentenced to four years in prison. But this was cut in half as a reward for memorising the Koran. Muqrin is believed to have been the mastermind behind a suicide bombing at a housing compound in Riyadh in November last year, which killed 17 people. His fighters have also been blamed for a series of increasingly bloody attacks in Saudi Arabia, including a siege in Khobar last month that left 22 people dead. Muqrin's group, calling itself the "al-Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula" posted a video on an Islamist website last Tuesday, threatening to kill American Paul Johnson if al-Qaeda prisoners were not released from Saudi jails. Three days later, the same group posted another video, showing that their threat had been carried out. Mr Johnson was the third American killed in Riyadh in the past 10 days. Described as a smart and brutal tactician, Muqrin was said to have lived in the Riyadh district of al-Suwaydi, home to many of Saudi Arabia's most-wanted militants. BBC cameraman Simon Cumbers was killed and security correspondent Frank Gardner seriously injured in a drive-by shooting while working there on 6 June. |
SALEH, EX-COP, NEW AL-QAEDA LEADER IN SAUDI MIL Date : JUN 22, 2004 Riyadh - Al-Qaeda leader Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, who was killed in Riyadh in a gunshoot by the Security Forces, has been replaced by an ex-Saudi Police Officer Saleh Mohammad al-Oufi. He shall be the new chief of Al-Qaeda network on the Arabian Peninsula according to Arab Media. Saleh is within 36-38 and holds the position as number 4 among the most wanted militants in Saudi Arabia. He was once Police Officer, born in Medina and joined the terrorist group in Afghanistan. Since he was wounded in Bosnia, he was reported to have come back to Saudi for treatment and thereafter he stayed here since then. The Saudi Institute, an independent news agency, which is based in Washington has confirmed the appointment of Salah in place of al-Muqrin. According to Al-Hayat, owned by Saudies and published from London, said, " Saleh al-Oufi is the most dangerous of the al-Qaeda Lieutenants left alive in Saudi Arabia." This news has not so far been relayed or confirmed by Islamist websites, which is an information channel for al-Qaedas. |
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