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GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Plans to close Guantanamo are not sitting well with the Sept. 11 victims' relatives who sat stunned while two alleged terrorists declared they were proud of their role in the plot.

Note: Photo included. PHOTO CAPTION: "Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Othman Ahmed al Ghamdi, in a tape released by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula." SNIPPET: "A videotape released by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) earlier this week says that a former Guantanamo detainee is now a commander within the terrorist organization. The former detainee, Othman Ahmed al Ghamdi, has risen to the rank of operational commander within AQAP as other senior terrorists within the organization have been killed in recent strikes. The tape, which is titled “America and the Final Trap,” confirms that three AQAP leaders were killed...

(CNN) -- In a video marking the seventh anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, al Qaeda's top leader in Afghanistan vows more "large-scale" attacks against the United States and its allies. Mullah Omar, chief of the Taliban, is shown in this undated headshot photo. In another segment, the personal adviser to Taliban leader Mullah Omar says al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is alive and well. Al Qaeda leaders featured on the video promise more violence against their enemies... Also on the video is a reading from the will of Saeed al Ghamdi, one of the 19 hijackers involved...

Birmingham Sunday Mercury: An al-Qaida recruitment video showing the chilling "last will and testament" of one of the September 11 hijackers is being openly sold at Birmingham's Central Mosque. The hour-long film contains the only testimony of the hijackers, explaining their motives for the US attacks, and erases any doubt that Osama bin Laden was behind the atrocities. Recorded six months before the atrocity, the tape shows Ahmed al-Haznawi - who was on United Airlines flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania - issuing a chilling warning. He tells Americans to "start digging their own graves because a thousand bin...

(Washington DC, January 3, 2005) …A Saudi suicide bomber carried the attack on US mess hall in Mousel that killed 19 US soldiers and contractors December 22, AsharqAlawsat Newspaper reported today. The Saudi-Owned newspaper based in London, said that Ahmed Saeed Ahmed AlGhamdi, 20, a medical student from Riyadh carried that attack on behalf of Sunni terror group Ansar Al-Sunna. The Saudi Institute has also learned that Al-Ghamdi is the eldest son of Saudi diplomat Saeed Al-Ghamdi, the former head of Saudi diplomatic mission to Sudan prior to his return to Riyadh. Ahmed Abdullah AbdulRahman Al-Shayea, 23, from Riyadh, is...

CAIRO - The suicide bomber who killed 22 people when he blew himself up in a US mess hall in Mosul, Iraq, was a Saudi medical student, an Arab newspaper reported Monday. Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat identified him as 20-year-old Ahmed Said Ahmed al-Ghamdi, citing unnamed friends of the man’s father. The friends said members of an Iraqi resistance group contacted al-Ghamdi’s father to tell him his son was the suicide bomber who carried out the Dec. 21 attack, the deadliest on an American installation in Iraq. The Associated Press was unable to reach Saudi security officials for comment despite several...

12:19pm (UK) Saudi Student Was Mess Tent Suicide Bomber The suicide bomber who killed 22 people when he blew himself up in a US army mess tent the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, was a Saudi medical student, an Arab newspaper reported today. Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat identified him as 20-year-old Ahmed Said Ahmed al-Ghamdi, citing friends of the man’s father. The friends said members of an Iraqi resistance group contacted al-Ghamdi’s father to tell him his son was the suicide bomber who carried out the December 21 attack, the deadliest on an American installation in Iraq. US officials have said...

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Intelligence reveals dry runs of new threat to blow up airliners Jason Burke, chief reporter Sunday February 8, 2004 The Observer Islamic militants have conducteddry runs of a devastating new style of bombing on aircraft flying to Europe, intelligence sources believe. The tactics, which aim to evade aviation security systems by placing only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing militants to assemble them in the air, have been tried out on planes flying between the Middle East, North Africa and Western Europe, security sources say. Concerns that militants might assemble a bomb or another weapon on board were...

Wahabi Watch - Florida Trail Of Terror By Beila Rabinowitz & William A. Mayer From dirty bomb plotter Jose Padilla - employed at a Ft. Lauderdale Taco Bell - to Padilla’s alleged partner - Adnan El Shukrijumah [apparently fingered by recently captured senior al-Qaeda planner, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed] - who was last sighted at a Subway sandwich shop in Tampa 2001, the trail of terror continues in Florida. Fourteen of the nineteen September 11 hijackers either came from or through Florida – The 3 main ringleaders - the "pilots” - Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi & Ziad Jarrah and 11...

The FBI has uncovered intelligence that al-Qa'eda terrorists are plotting to hijack an aircraft in Britain over the next two months and fly it into an important building. British Airways and other leading airlines operating in and out of Britain have been put on alert after the warning was passed to the security services. The most likely targets are aircraft taking off from Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The FBI and the American department for homeland security circulated a warning to American and British airlines on July 30, saying that terrorists working in teams of five were likely to try...

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Two militants killed in a shootout with Saudi police last week were part of a cell of 19 suspected terrorists linked to al-Qaida and thought to be behind the deadly May suicide bombings in Riyadh, a newspaper reported Monday. The Al-Watan daily, quoting "informed sources," identified the men as Ahmed bin Nasser al-Dekhiel and Hamad bin Abdullah al-Aslami. The men were killed during the July 28 raid on a farm in the al-Qassim area, 220 miles northwest of the capital, Riyadh. Four other suspected militants and two police officers also died. The two were on a...

JEDDAH, 4 August 2003 — Ayida Al-Sayyad, 30, the Moroccan wife of Ali Abdul Rahman Al-Faqaasi Al-Ghamdi, said to be the mastermind of the May 12 terrorist attacks, has denied her husband was handed over to American authorities. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, after her arrest and release from jail in June, she said she received a phone call from her husband last Thursday from the Riyadh prison where he is being held. Ayida swore her husband was innocent, saying he denounced bombings and killings. “He does not support the killings or terrorizing...

TIME learns who in the terrorist camp has been the source of U.S. intelligence on planned airline hijackings TIME has been told that the source for the tip that al-Qaeda leaders are attempting to mount another multi-pronged airline hijacking attack is Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi, aka "Abu Bakr," an al-Qaeda field commander who surrendered to Saudi authorities June 26. Two official sources report that al-Ghamdi is providing an intelligence windfall about potential a-Qaeda plots against the U.S., western and Saudi governments. The sources say Saudi authorities passed al-Ghamdi's allegations about what could be multiple airline hijackings to the CIA,...

The Associated Press WASHINGTON July 31 — A suspect in the May 12 bombings in Saudi Arabia told interrogators about new plots to hijack planes and use them as weapons, but intelligence officials say he could be lying.Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi, whom U.S. counterterrorism officials describe as a leading al-Qaida operative in Saudi Arabia, reported the possible hijacking plot, said one intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The man, also known as Abu Bakr al-Azdi, surrendered to Saudi authorities on June 26.Intelligence officials say they consider his threat credible but do not know if he is...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A high-level al Qaeda operative was one of the sources of information leading to the latest warning about possible suicide hijackings of airliners, a government source told CNN Wednesday.</p> <p>The source said Ali Abd al-Rahman al Faqasi al-Ghamdi -- allegedly one of the key organizers of the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed 23 people, including nine Americans -- gave information concerning possible hijackings.</p>

http://www.spa.gov.sa/ Date :01/07/2003 09:22:15 ã No.: 39 llll bbbb SPA -39 - general/ Prince Naif addresses the Shoura Council Riyadh, July 1, SPA -- Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Minister of Interior, attended the Shoura Council's 19th regular session held in Riyadh today. The meeting was assigned to discuss the regrettable terroristincidents which took place in the Kingdom recently. Addressing the chamber, Prince Naif thanked the council's chairman Sheikh Salih bin Homaid for arranging this meeting to cast light on the latest security developments in the Kingdom. Prince Naif said the series of bombings in Riyadh and the arrest of...

A senior cleric said Sunday he mediated the surrender of a top Saudi terror suspect as Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz reiterated his vow to strike terrorism “with an iron hand” and demanded Saudi nationals turn in anyone involved in such deadly acts. The mothers of several wanted Islamic militants also appealed to their sons to give themselves up after the surrender of one of the main suspects in the May 12 triple suicide bombings in Riyadh in which 35 people died. Sheikh Safar al-Hawali told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that Ali Abdel Rahman Saeed al-Faqaasi al-Ghamdi had...

In many of today's reports of the Ali al-Ghamdi surrender it is noted that claims, first reported by the Saudi daily al-Watan, of his capture on May 27th were inaccurate. However, alphabet city contends that the al-Watan claim of al-Ghamdi's capture in a Medina internet cafe on May 27th is problematic not because it is now discounted. Rather, the claim should never have been made because the Saudi Interior Ministry confirmed al-Ghamdi's surrender on May 15th. May 15th - The Arab News runs a piece penned by its bureau chief Raid Saud Qusti. In his article Mr. Qusti features comments...

There was a security alert in Khamis Mushayt Governorate in Asir between 2300 on 22 June and 0100 on 23 June. The concerned authorities blocked entrances to the governorate as a security measure after hearing bullet shots in Atud neighborhood at the governorate. Special emergency forces helped maintain security in the governorate. Ukaz private sources said "suspects wanted in security issues were arrested and referred to the concerned authorities for questioning." It is noted the high security alert in the governorate demonstrates police preparedness to deal with any problem that arises at once.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - After an intense manhunt that netted 21 suspects and left another dead, Saudi authorities think they have disabled the al-Qaida cell behind the May 12 suicide bombings in the Saudi capital. But government officials and international terrorism experts fear that other cells are planning further strikes in the desert kingdom, possibly in retaliation for the wave of arrests.,p> "This is going to make them pretty angry," said Stephen Ulph, the Islamic affairs and terrorism analyst for Jane's Information Group in London. "I don't think Saudi Arabia is going to be a very safe place in the...

Date: Sun Jun 1, 2003 9:28 pm Subject: Saudi Arabia Identifies Those Arrested for Planning 'Terrorist Acts' in Medina Saudi Arabia Identifies Those Arrested for Planning 'Terrorist Acts' in Medina GMP20030601000201 Riyadh Kingdom of Saudi Arabia TV1 in Arabic 1830 GMT 01 Jun 03 [Announcer-read report over video] [FBIS Translated Text] An official Interior Ministry source has stated the following: Based on what was mentioned by His Royal Highness Interior Minister Prince Nayif Bin-Abd-al-Aziz at the news conference he held in Tabuk on Wednesday 27 Rabi al-Awwal 1424 Hegira [corresponding to 28 May 2003] regarding the intention to announce the...

Riyadh Attack: al-Abdel in Iran Ordered It, al-Ghamdi in Saudi Arabia Oversaw It Iran Had Handed al-Ghamdi to Saudis Who Then Released Him As many as eleven suspects have been arrested in Medina in connection with the terror attacks in Riyadh, including the suspected mastermind Ali Abdul Rahman al-Ghamdi, aka Abu Bakr. The daily Okaz, quoting informed sources, said that the alleged mastermind was Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi. The paper reported that al-Ghamdi was arrested in Medina on Tuesday when police stopped a jeep with five men inside. However, Al-Watan daily reported that al-Ghamdi was arrested along with two...

JEDDAH, 29 May 2003 — Interior Minister Prince Naif yesterday announced the arrest of 11 wanted persons including three religious men who allegedly instigated terrorist attacks. The arrests took place in Madinah during the past two days. “Yes, they included Ali Fahd Al-Khudair, Ahmed Hamoud Mufreh Al-Khaledi and Nasir Ahmed Al-Fuhaid, who claim they are muftis and sheikhs... but they are far from it and they don’t have any standing,” he told reporters. Addressing a press conference in Tabuk in the north, Prince Naif also disclosed that Saudi security agents had identified six of the nine suicide bombers who carried...

JEDDAH, 12 May — A Saudi Air Force pilot, Maj. Mubarak Saad Al-Ghamdi, 37, and six Americans including a navy lieutenant commander died in Pensacola, Florida in an air collision. The US Navy announced yesterday that coast guard and navy ships and helicopters have called off a search after two navy jets vanished over the Gulf of Mexico and the seven missing are presumed dead. “Extensive efforts in the search and rescue for the missing personnel were exhausted,” the navy website said. Two T-39 Sabreliner jets, flown by two civilian contractor pilots, disappeared from radar on Wednesday afternoon about 40...

<p>Osama bin Laden's mystery mate, delighting with the al Qaeda mastermind on the vile video, has been ID'd as a Saudi professor.</p> <p>December 15, 2001 -- WASHINGTON - U.S. officials are looking into whether the mystery dinner-guest sheik who lavishly praises Osama bin Laden in the notorious video might have recruited some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, a source said last night.</p>

Read this article. What do you think about my title? Two expats killed in bid to save employer’s life BAHRA, 19 January — Police arrested Thursday night a Saudi youth who fled after shooting to death two expatriate workers at a taxi company office in north Jeddah on Wednesday. Muhammad Saeed Al-Ghamdi shot the two expatriates — an Indian and a Yemeni — when they prevented him from entering the office of a Saudi businessman, whom he apparently wanted to kill. Witnesses told Arab News that the alleged murderer tried to storm into the taxi company’s office belonging to the ...

Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera has broadcast a tape that appears to show one of the 11 September hijackers reading his last will and testament. The channel also aired a brief clip of wanted Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden, who is shown kneeling beside his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, as al-Zawahri praises the actions of the bombers. The channel identifies the hijacker as Ahmad al-Haznawi al-Ghamdi, a name which closely resembles that of Ahmed al-Ghamdi, who was on Flight 175 that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Al-Jazeera said the footage - which it says it checked...