Posted on 12/30/2004 8:25:08 PM PST by Straight Vermonter
Saudi security forces have killed 10 suspected Al Qaeda militants in two days of clashes in the capital, including a Yemeni thought to be the terror group's leader in the country.
The clashes, in which two people on the country's most-wanted list were also killed, occurred before and after two car bombings against security targets in the capital on Wednesday that left two other people dead.
Saudi forces killed seven militants late on Wednesday that came just an hour after bombings at the Interior Ministry and a special forces base, a ministry statement said.
The other three were killed in a firefight that began late on Tuesday and continued overnight, said the statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
The Ministry identified the two most-wanted militants as Saudis Sultan Bjad Saadun Al Otaibi and Bandar Abderrahman Al Dakhil.
A security source said a Yemeni among the dead, Ibrahim Ahmed Abdel Majeed Al Reemy, was believed to be the actual leader of the Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.
"It is a big success for Saudi forces... Reemy is believed to be the real leader of Al Qaeda in the kingdom following the killing of Khaled (Ali bin) Haj," who was killed in a shoot out in Riyadh last March, the source told AFP.
Reemy, who did not figure on the most-wanted list, is a "big shot in Al-Qaeda and is believed to be the link between the organisation in Saudi Arabia and bin Laden himself," the source said.
Haj, a Yemeni, ranked third on the 26-strong list of most wanted suspected Islamist militants alleged to have links with suicide bombings which killed 52 people in Riyadh in May and November 2003.
The source said that Al Qaeda tries to show that its leadership in the kingdom is in the hands of Saudis, but that Yemenis are the actual leaders "because they are the most trusted by (Al Qaeda leader Osama) bin Laden."
Also among the dead was Thamer Khamis Abdel Aziz Al Khamis, a Saudi believed to be responsible for releasing Internet statements from Al Qaeda fighters in the kingdom.
The Ministry said another of those killed, Saud Abdullah Al Jadhii, was suspected of being involved in plotting a blast at security force headquarters in April that killed five people and wounded 145.
The Ministry named the other dead militants as Khaled Ahmed Mohammed bin Sanan, Badr Al Sobeii, Mohammed Abdullah Saleh Al Mohsen, Mohammed Suleiman Ibrahim Al Wakeel and Abdul Wahab Adel Abdul Wahab Al Sheridah.
Otaibi and Dakhil figured as number nine and 11 respectively on the most-wanted list, which was issued last December.
Their death brings the number of militants remaining at large to seven.
Last June, the declared local leader of Al Qaeda, Saudi Abdul Aziz Al Muqrin and three associates, were killed by security forces in Riyadh shortly after they posted website photos of the beheading of a US hostage.
Thanks for the post.
We should watch Osama's momma ... I have a feeling Osama is heading there. I don't know why.
Every time an islamist terrorist dies, a cow farts.
Every time an islamist terrorist dies, a cow farts.
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There's something about that line that sounds true.
Too bad it's not the other way around!
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