Free Republic

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi security forces clashed with five wanted militants at a suspected hideout north of Riyadh on Thursday, killing four and wounding the fifth, a security official said. A security agent was also killed and two others were wounded in the shootout at a house outside the town of Buraida, the official said on condition of anonymity. Buraida is one of the kingdom's fundamentalist strongholds. The official said the men were "misguided individuals," a euphemism Saudi officials use to refer to Islamic militants. He said weapons and ammunition were found at the scene. It was not immediately...

Oct. 28, 2003 Iran rejects U.S. demand to extradite al-Qaida operatives By ASSOCIATED PRESS TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran rejected a U.S. demand to hand over senior al-Qaida operatives in its custody, Tuesday, saying the terror suspects would stand trial in Iranian courts, state-run radio reported. A day earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted that senior al-Qaida operatives held by Iran should be turned over to their countries of origin or to the United States for interrogation and trial. "Al-Qaida operatives currently in (our) custody have committed crimes in Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted by...

JIZAN, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Blood and bullets littered the halls Wednesday of a Saudi housing complex where a shootout with security forces left three suspected militants dead, including a man wanted by the FBI for possible terrorist threats against the United States. The hours-long gunfight ended Tuesday afternoon after Saudi security forces stormed the three-story complex in Jizan, 600 miles south of the capital, Riyadh, shooting their way through the doors. At least one security officer also died and two suspected militants were arrested, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency....

The Obama administration finally highlights Iran’s key role in supporting al Qaeda On July 28, the Treasury Department designated six al Qaeda operatives involved in shipping money and men from the Persian Gulf to senior al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The move targets a node of the global terror network that is critical to its overall strength, freezing any of its financial assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting any transactions with the operatives. Of the many conduits for al Qaeda funds and personnel across the world, the U.S. government believes this one is the most important. “This network...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made a series of arrests in three states Friday of men suspected of ties to an anti-U.S. terrorist organization whose main goal is driving India out of the disputed Kashmir territory in South Asia. The arrests of at least seven suspects were made in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, said federal law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity. Federal charges against the men, and several others who are overseas, were to be announced later in the day. The men are alleged to be part of an extremist Muslim organization called Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is on the...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors who accuse nine U.S. citizens and two other men of conspiring to join a Muslim terror group presented an address list and other evidence Friday to try to link the suspects to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida group. But the evidence wasn't enough to persuade U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to keep one defendant, Sabri Benkhala, in jail. Brinkema ordered Benkhala released to home detention at his father's house in Falls Church, upholding a previous release order issued by a magistrate. "There's no question the government has raised some significant issues here," the judge said....

King Fahd, Crown Prince Abdullah Call on Muslims to Unite Against Terror, Combat Roots of Extremism WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard, in a joint statement issued today, congratulated Muslims on the occasion of the blessed Eid Al-Fitr, and called upon them to "work for the stability and security of Islamic countries and the whole world and overcome the obstacles to world peace." King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah said that the recent bombings...

Nov. 16, 2003 Hamas: Attack Israel, Iraq not Saudi Arabia By ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIRUT, Lebanon Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas' bureau in Damascus, denounced the perpetrators of last week's deadly Riyadh suicide bombings and urged attacks on Israel and the US forces instead. The Nov. 8 al-Qaida-linked attack on a residential compound in the Saudi capital killed 17 people and injured scores more. The attack, in which most of the victims were either Arabs or Muslims, angered many throughout the Middle East and was seen as a direct strike on the U.S.-allied Saudi royal family. During a speech in...

<p>July 4, 2003 -- JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - The top suspect wanted in the Riyadh suicide bombings was killed along with three other terrorists in a gun battle yesterday in a dawn raid of their hideout in northern Saudi Arabia.</p>