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Two men suspected of being al-Qaeda members and a police officer have been killed in a shoot-out at a checkpoint in Saudi Arabia, officials say. Shots were fired after a female police officer approached a vehicle to check the identities of the passengers - two of whom were disguised as women. A third man was arrested and state media quoted an official as saying there were more weapons in the vehicle. The shooting happened in Jizan province on the southern border with Yemen. Interior Ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said the suspects were wearing explosive vests and had grenades, automatic...

Interior Minister Prince Nayef of Saudi Arabia and his son, Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, have many enemies. For decades, the powerful and unaccountable elder Prince Nayef has “overseen” the Saudi police force; Nayef once boasted that his law enforcement agency solves 100 percent of the kingdom’s annual crimes. Al-Qaeda was quick to take credit for the suicide bombing (according to SITE). After all, it was a major public relations coup. For starters, the royals had been tricked — promised surrender and instead given a Trojan horse. Saudi’s princes pride themselves on having impenetrable personal security systems. Instead,...

A suicide bomber failed in his attempt to kill the prince who heads Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism campaign, the first attack on a member of the royal family since the start of a wave of violence by Al-Qaeda six years ago. Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the deputy interior minister, was meeting well-wishers on Thursday when a man blew himself up, a ministry spokesman said. Al Arabiya television showed Prince Mohammed, apparently slightly injured, meeting King Abdullah after the attack. Prince Mohammed told King Abdullah that the attacker was a wanted militant who had indicated he was going to turn himself in....

Saudi suspects seeking to revive Al Qaeda - includes 11 who attended Saudi rehab after release from Guantanamo Bay Saudi Arabia issued the list ...They include 11 who have been released from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay and have attended the kingdom's touted extremist rehabilitation program. Saudi suspects seeking to revive Al Qaeda - includes 11 who attended Saudi rehab after release from Guantanamo Bay Khaleej Times - 08 February, 2009 www.gulfinthemedia.com/index.php?id=456220&news_type=Top&lang=en One of the men on the Saudi Arabia's new most-wanted list is married to Osama bin Laden's daughter while another was involved in a plot to kill...

Alerted by Saudi and other intelligence agencies that al-Qaida planned to launch a bloody assault on Muslim pilgrims taking part in the annual pilgrimage - the Hajj - the Saudi government last week launched a huge counterterrorism operation, one of the largest in recent memory, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Over 3 million Muslims flocked to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage which retraces a route taken by the Prophet Mohammed 14 centuries ago. This year's event began Dec 6 under the nervous eye of Saudi security forces that included 20,000 ground forces, flights of combat helicopters and a large number...

Saudi security forces have arrested al Qaeda members suspected of planning to carry out attacks during the current haj pilgrimage, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said on Friday. The television quoted an unnamed security official as saying the suspects aimed to cause "security confusion" during the pilgrimage, in which more than 2.5 million Muslims are taking part. They were arrested in various cities in the kingdom days before the start of the pilgrimage on Monday, the official was quoted as saying. The report did not say how many were being held.

Saudi Arabia has begun setting up a 35,000-strong security force to protect its oil infrastructure from potential attacks, the Financial Times reported. The force already numbers about 5,000 personnel. They are being trained in the use of new surveillance equipment, countermeasures and crisis management under a programme managed by US defence group Lockheed Martin (nyse: LMT), the newspaper quoted a Saudi adviser as saying. The move underlines the kingdom's growing concern about its oil installations after threats from al-Qaeda to attack facilities in the Gulf, as well as rising tensions between Iran and the US. Lockheed said it did not...

Saudi Arabia has begun setting up a 35,000-strong security force to protect its oil infrastructure from potential attacks. The move underlines the kingdom’s growing concern about its oil installations after threats from al-Qaeda to attack facilities in the Gulf, as well as rising tensions between Iran and the US. The force already numbers about 5,000 personnel, a Saudi adviser said on Sunday. They are being trained in the use of new surveillance equipment, countermeasures and crisis management under a programme managed by US defence group Lockheed Martin, according to the Middle East Economic Survey in Nicosia. The recruits are learning...

RIYADH: Four militants arrested in Jeddah this week were part of a group of 34 men rounded up in an effort to prevent a resurgence of Al Qaeda violence, the Saudi interior ministry said yesterday. The four Islamist radicals surrendered on Monday after Saudi security forces besieged the building where they had an apartment in the Red Sea port. "Security work led to the arrest of 34 people of different nationalities in Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh and Jeddah because they belonged to the 'deviant group' and had links to escapees from the Malaz prison," a statement on official news agency SPA...

RIYADH (Reuters) - Four militants arrested in the Saudi city of Jeddah this week were part of a group of 34 men rounded up in an effort to prevent a resurgence of al Qaeda violence, the Saudi interior ministry said on Saturday. The four Islamist radicals surrendered on Monday after Saudi security forces besieged the building where they had an apartment in the Red Sea port. "Security work led to the arrest of 34 people of different nationalities in Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and Jeddah because they belonged to the 'deviant group' and had links to escapees from the Malaz prison,"...

Terror suspects 'flee Saudi jail' The Interior Ministry said the fugitives were 'religious extremists' Seven terror suspects have escaped from prison in Saudi Arabia, according to the country's Interior Ministry. Saudi-owned television Al Arabiya said the fugitives - six Saudis and one Yemeni - were linked to al-Qaeda. Saudi Arabia has been battling a campaign of violence by al-Qaeda aimed at toppling the pro-US monarchy. The suspects fled Malaz prison in the capital Riyadh, where they had been held over "security related issues," an Interior Ministry statement said. The term is used by Saudi authorities to describe terrorism charges. Radical...

Six militants were killed and one was arrested in a shootout with security forces in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Friday, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said. "The security operation is still going on" in a western district of the capital, the satellite channel said. The television quoted security sources as saying the militants were on the verge of launching unspecified attacks when the shootout occurred. It gave no further details. Al Qaeda-linked militants have been carrying out a three-year campaign against the pro-Western monarchy, with attacks on residences housing foreigners as well as state and economic targets and shootouts with...

Saw this the other day. Its quite a dramatic, very interesting series of excerpts from a forthcoming book by a BBC journalist. A word of warning - it is extremely long hence the seperating lines. Although I can find soem criticism of is, it does reveal a chilling insight into the actions of radical Islamists. ------------------------------ The day I was shot When BBC correspondent Frank Gardner lay helpless on a Saudi street, blood pouring from his bullet-riddled body, he cursed himself for getting too close to Al-Qaeda. Here he recounts that terrible day --------------------------------------- ‘Do you have time for some...

Interior Minister Prince Nayef announced on Saturday that Saudi Arabia had prevented about 90 per cent of planned terror attacks planned against the kingdom."This is thanks to God and to detailed security effort and continuous tracking of terrorist cells," Interior Minister Prince Nayef told Al Hayat, a Saudi-owned Pan-Arab daily. Saudi forces this week announced the arrest of 40 suspected militants and the seizure of a huge arms cache. Eight people connected to a foiled attack on the world’s largest oil processing facility, were among the 40 arrested. On February 24 suicide bombers in two explosive laden cars attempted to...

The Will of Al-Qaeda Commander in Saudi Arabia Fahd Al-Farraj The following are excerpts from a recorded will of Al-Qaeda Commander in Saudi Arabia Fahd Al Farraj, aired on www.alsaha.com on March 17, 2006. TO VIEW THIS CLIP: http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=1078. The will of Commander Fahd bin Farraj Al-Jweir Al-Farraj, one of the commanders of the Al-Qaeda organization in the Arabian Peninsula.Fahd Al-Farraj in training in the Arabian Peninsula.The Battar Camp.Drive the polytheists out of the Arabian PeninsulaFahd Al Farraj: "I want to clarify and to reiterate the goals we wish to accomplish, with Allah's help, and to respond to some doubts...

An often overlooked theater in the war against al-Qaeda’s global network is right in the heart of the Middle East on the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia is a troubled ally in the War on Terror, as their internal politics and government support of the radical Wahabi strain of Islam often conflicts with fighting al-Qaeda’s support mechanisms within the country. However their efforts killing or capturing al-Qaeda members in the kingdom cannot be questioned. This week, Saudi security forces killed two senior members of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Abdel-Rahman al-Mutab and Mohammed al-Suwailmi. They were the number four and seven on...

KUWAIT (Reuters) - A Kuwaiti court on Tuesday sentenced to death six suspected militants linked to al Qaeda for bloody attacks in the country. The six were among 37 Islamists on trial as members of the "Peninsula Lions" group believed to be linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. They include 25 Kuwaitis, seven stateless Arabs, two Jordanians, a Saudi, an Australian and a Somali. A Reuters reporter who was at the court said none of the defendants were present when the verdict was announced. Other suspects received jail terms of between four months to...

An unprecedented acknowledgement by the Saudi interior ministry that a terrorist cell eliminated recently by the security forces in Dammam was planning to attack key oil installations, coupled with a near-simultaneous revelation that four Iraqi insurgents had been engaged in a gun battle in nearby Jubail, heightens fears that a call in December by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden for attacks on the kingdom's oil infrastructure have struck a chord with battle-hardened Saudi insurgents. In his first direct message to Saudi militants, bin Laden's main aim in the December address did not appear to be the destruction of major installations,...

RIYADH, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Saudi fighters who joined the insurgency in Iraq showed few signs of militancy before the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein, according to a detailed study based on Saudi intelligence reports. Most were motivated by "revulsion at the idea of an Arab land being occupied by a non-Arab country". The study by Middle East analyst Anthony Cordesman and Saudi security adviser Nawaf Obaid may offer further fuel to critics who say that instead of weakening al Qaeda, the 2003 invasion of Iraq brought fresh recruits to Osama bin Laden's network. It said Saudi Arabia...

RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia said on Thursday that five Al Qaeda suspects on a most-wanted list were killed in a three-day battle with security forces in the eastern city of Dammam, the latest in a series of offensives against the militants. Four security men also died in the operation that began with a shootout on Sunday in a commercial thoroughfare in the main city of the oil-rich Eastern Province and ended on Tuesday with the storming of a militant hideout in another neighborhood. The five Al Qaeda suspects were Zaid Al Samari, Saleh Al Fraidi, Sultan Al Haseri, Nayef Al...

Five Al-Qaeda militants, who were killed in a three-day gunbattle with security forces in the eastern city of Dammam, figured on a list of 36 most-wanted terrorists, the Interior Ministry announced yesterday. Four security men also died in the operation, which began with a shootout on Sunday in a commercial thoroughfare on Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd Street and ended Tuesday with the storming of a terrorist hide-out in the Al-Hamra district in the city. The ministry identified the five terrorists as Zaid ibn Saad Al-Samari, 31; Saleh ibn Mansour Al-Fareedi, 22; Sultan ibn Saleh Al-Hasry, 26; Naif ibn Farhan Al-Jehaishy,...

Islamic militants battled Saudi security forces for a third day Tuesday in a seafront district of the eastern city of Dammam, with three extremists and two policemen reportedly dead. The deaths bring the number of suspected al-Qaeda militants killed to five, in the fighting that began on Sunday. A policeman also died in earlier clashes. Armed forces continued to surround the building where a number of militants were surrounded which was partially destroyed in heavy bombing as arguments raged between the men inside, some of whom wanted to surrender and were subsequently shot by their companions. Sources told Asharq al...

DAMMAM, Saudi Arabia (AP) - In a barrage of gunfire and explosions, Saudi special forces overran a seaside villa Tuesday where Islamic militants had been holed up, ending three days of heavy fighting that killed at least nine people. Security forces that swept into the building in the eastern city of Dammam found several charred bodies, apparently those of militants killed in explosions - suggesting the death toll from the fighting would rise. It was the fiercest clash in months in the kingdom's two-year crackdown on al-Qaida-linked militants. Officials in the conservative, oil-rich nation - a key U.S. ally -...

ABU DHABI [MENL] -- Saudi Arabia has foiled an Al Qaida offensive against Western expatriates in the kingdom. Saudi security sources said authorities have captured or killed dozens of operatives from the Al Qaida network in operations in Arar, Medina and Riyad. The sources said the network planned attacks against Westerners in Jedda and Riyad. The Saudi Interior Ministry said 41 suspects were detained. The ministry said on Aug. 26 that the arrests foiled several unspecified strikes.

One of two terrorists killed in clashes with Saudi police last week was a national karate champion who trained al-Qaida members.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Police raids touched off fierce gunbattles Thursday that killed six Islamic extremists, and authorities said the dead included al-Qaida's leader in Saudi Arabia, whose hideout was found to hold the head of a murdered American last summer. Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, the kingdom's top fugitive, had led local al-Qaida operations since his predecessor was killed by police a year ago during a crackdown on religious militants in the homeland of Osama bin Laden and most of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers. Al-Aoofi was believed involved in the June 2004 kidnapping and beheading of engineer Paul M. Johnson...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Al Qaeda's leader in Saudi Arabia was killed Thursday during clashes with police in the western city of Medina (search), the Interior Ministry said. Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi (search) was among six Al Qaeda-linked militants reported killed during police raids on numerous locations in that holy city and the capital, Riyadh, Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki (search) told The Associated Press.

US diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia will be closed over the next two days because of a threat against US buildings, the US embassy said overnight. Saudi Arabia swiftly responded, saying it had no solid information about any imminent threat in the kingdom. A US statement said the embassy in Riyadh and the consulates in the Red Sea city of Jeddah and the eastern city of Dhahran would be closed on August 8 and 9 "in response to a threat against US government buildings in the kingdom". The embassy advised US citizens to maintain a high level of vigilance and...

JEDDAH, 27 July 2005 — Security forces yesterday arrested four terror suspects in Madinah. No casualties were reported in the early morning operation that took place in the southwest of the holy city, said Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Mansour Al-Turki. The new arrests came a day after Saudi security forces captured Muhammad ibn Saeed Al-Siyam Al-Amri and two of his associates in Madinah and another terror suspect in Riyadh. A 20-year-old Saudi girl helped police locate Al-Amri, No. 10 on a government list of 36 wanted terrorists. The girl, Nahed, saw Al-Amri enter a residential building, Al-Madinah Arabic newspaper reported....

RIYADH, 4 July 2005 — The man alleged to be the leader of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Younus Mohamed Al-Hayari, was shot dead by security forces in Riyadh yesterday. Al-Hayari, a Moroccan, was No. 1 on the Interior Ministry’s recently issued list of 36 wanted terrorists. He was killed “during a gunbattle with security forces after they raided his hide-out in an eastern neighborhood of Riyadh,” an Interior Ministry official said. Six policemen were slightly wounded in the clash. Security forces conducted two raids in the Al-Rawda district after learning that Al-Qaeda members were using houses there as hide-outs. During...

The supposed chief of Al-Qaïda in Saudi Arabia killed in Riyadh - the supposed chief of Al-Qaïda in Saudi Arabia, the Morrocan Younès Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Hayari, was killed in a fixing Sunday in Riyadh with the Saoudi forces of safety, brought back the chain of television Al-Arabiya. "the chief of network Al-Qaïda in Saudi Arabia, (the activist) Moroccan required Younès Al-Hayari, was killed", brought back the chain, with mainly Saoudi capital, which emits since. Little before, Al-Arabiya had made state of a death and two wounded among the required islamist activists at the time of a fixing in the...

The suspected Saudi frontman of the Al-Qaeda network in Saudi Arabia, Yunis Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hayari of Morocco, was killed in a shootout with security forces in Riyadh Sunday, the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel reported. "The chief of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Yunis al-Hayari, was killed in a shootout in the Riyadh eastern neighbourhood of Rawda," the satellite channel reported. Two other wanted men were injured in the overnight clash, it added. Hayari topped a list of 36 wanted men issued by the Saudi interior ministry last week. The Moroccan had reportedly had "extensive contact with al-Qaeda and handles the financial...

RIYADH/JEDDAH, 29 June 2005 — Saudi Arabia yesterday issued a new list of 36 suspects believed to be linked to a series of terror attacks across the country, reflecting the government’s resolve to go ahead with its anti-terror campaign. In the latest response to a two-year campaign of bombings and killings by supporters of the Al-Qaeda terror network, the Interior Ministry broadcast pictures of the suspects on state television and offered hefty rewards for their capture. “Security authorities managed to uncover plans by the deviant group who used themselves as a tool to distort Islam and harm the security of...

RIYADH (AFP) - The killing of Al-Qaeda's new frontman in Saudi Arabia means that the network's local branch is now "brain dead" after successive killings of hardcore leaders, a prominent Muslim cleric said. But while the group's militants still on the run do not compare to the likes of their notorious slain chief Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, they remain "dangerous as individuals, rather than as an organization," Sheikh Mohsen al-Awaji told AFP. The Saudi interior ministry announced Sunday that Moroccan-born Yunis Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hayari, recently named as "the head of sedition" by his comrades, was killed in a shootout with security...

ABU DHABI [MENL] -- Al Qaida was determined to have a budget of more than $500 million for its insurgency campaign in Saudi Arabia. Saudi security sources said Al Qaida has the assets in cash, property, firearms, munitions and precious metals throughout the kingdom. The sources said Al Qaida has used the budget to recruit and train insurgents in both Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Saudi authorities said Al Qaida network leaders might have raised the money from abroad. They said that neither Abdul Aziz Al Muqrin, killed in a Saudi shootout in June 2004, nor his predecessors were regarded as...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Security forces killed al-Qaida's leader in Saudi Arabia, who topped the nation's list of most-wanted militants, during a fierce gunbattle Sunday, an Interior Ministry official said. Younis Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hayari, a Moroccan, was killed during a dawn raid by security forces on an area in the capital where suspected militants were hiding, the official was quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency as saying. Three other unidentified suspects were arrested, and weapons, ammunition, computers and documents were seized, he said. The clashes took place in the Rawdah district, an upscale neighborhood in eastern Riyadh, Interior Ministry...

Saudi police clash with militants Saudi security forces have clashed with suspected al-Qaeda militants in the capital, Riyadh. Arabic TV station al-Arabiya said a senior al-Qaeda militant had been killed in the shoot-out, which followed a raid on a wealthy district overnight. The Saudi interior ministry confirmed there were reports of one dead militant, but said authorities were still trying to confirm that. Saudi Arabia has suffered several terror attacks in recent years. The clash followed a police raid on a suspected militant hideout in al-Rawdah, a wealthy neighbourhood in eastern Riyadh. Younis Mohammad Ibrahim al-Hayyari, the man Al-Arabiya says...

Dubai, 27 June (AKI) - An influential Saudi al-Qaeda leader, Abdullah Muhammad Rashid Al-Rushud, reported killed recently in Iraq, travelled there after serious split within the al-Qaeda leadership, a recent statement posted on Internet Islamist forums suggests. It provides detailed argument regarding divisions within the leadership of terror network which, it argues, were behind al-Rushud's decision to goto Iraq. Last week, a message signed by the Jordanian militant, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, announced the death of al-Rushud, one of Saudi Arabia's 26 most wanted suspects, at al-Qaim. "Important truths about Sheikh Abdullah al-Rushud on the Arab peninsula with the mujahadeen" is...

ABU DHABI [MENL] -- Several commanders of the Al Qaida movement in Saudi Arabia have transferred their operations to Iraq in an effort to fight the U.S.-led coalition. Islamic sources said the movement of scores of leading Al Qaida fighters from Saudi Arabia has hampered operations against the Saudi regime. They said the Saudi members of Al Qaida have become aides and financiers of Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi in Iraq. About 3,000 to 5,000 Saudis have been fighting the U.S. military in Iraq. Over the past few months, about 200 Saudis returned to the kingdom.

Al-Qaida is far from being neutralized and is planning its next "catastrophic" attack, according to a top expert on the terrorist organization. Dr. Saad al-Faqih, who heads the Saudi opposition group Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, was asked in an interview in London if there is any credence to reports of al-Qaida's "demise." His response was chilling: "Nobody knows how al-Qaida really works. Consider, for instance, that the time lapse between the Africa embassy bombings and 9/11 was more than three years. Therefore the fact that no major attack has taken place since 9/11 is not altogether very surprising....

Riyadh, 16 June (AKI) - The Saudi security authorities have arrested five Chad nationals allegedly belonging to al-Qaeda, who they said confessed to the murder of French engineer Laurent Barbot in September. The Chadians also admitted several armed robberies in the capital, Jeddah, last year, Arab News daily reported, quoting the Saudi interior ministry. “Despite the precautions taken by these individuals who seek to spread corruption on earth and their attempts to remain in hiding, the security forces succeeded in arresting the five men and seizing the weapons and tools used in the crimes. The five confessed to committing the...

Attention has to be focused on Saudi Arabia as it enters a period of transition and uncertainty in the wake of reports about a deterioration in the health of King Fahd, who has been admitted to the hospital. In the absence of authentic reports on his health, rumors are rife that his end may be near. The post-Fahd transition should be a matter of concern to India. Any instability and violence could have an impact on the flow and price of oil and on the so-called "war on terrorism". Such instability could be caused either by challenges from other members...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May. 18 (UPI) -- Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz said terrorism in the oil-rich kingdom has been stamped out almost completely. Ahmed was quoted Wednesday by the Saudi Press Agency as saying, "The Saudi society is a peaceful one and aware of the dangerous evils of terrorism and rejects such abnormal tendencies."

WASHINGTON - Sheik Saleh Al Luhaidan, seen in video seated to the right of the crown prince, is chief justice of Saudi Arabia's Supreme Judicial Council. His sermons and words carry great significance. In an audiotape secretly recorded at a government mosque last October and obtained by NBC News, Luhaidan encourages young Saudis to go to Iraq to wage war against Americans. "If someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God, then he is free to do so," says Luhaidan in...

Al-Qaida Online Journal Resumes Publication 22 minutes ago By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer CAIRO, Egypt - An Internet journal purportedly issued by al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia appeared for the first time in several months Wednesday, and asked why Muslims on the Arabian peninsula have not heeded a call to hunt down Americans. The magazine "Sawt al-Jihad," or Voice of Holy War, said its reappearance was one of the last orders of Saud Homood Obaid al-Otaibi, the wanted militant who was killed in a battle with security forces in the central Saudi town of Rass on April 3. Al-Otaibi was...

Globalterroralert.com (4/14/05): Sources in the Arabian Peninsula are now claiming that one of the four Al-Qaida suicide bombers who attacked a U.S. base in the western Iraqi town of Al-Qaim on April 11 was Saudi national Hadi bin Mubarak al-Qahtani. According to a statement marking his death, Hadi had grown "eager to martyr himself" after witnessing the example of the "19 heroes" and their "holy attack that demolished the foolish infidel Americans and caused many young men to awaken from their deep sleep." Click to view English translation c/o Globalterroralert.com

RIYADH (AFP) -- The Saudi Interior Ministry confirmed Saturday that security forces killed Saud al-Otaibi, described as Al-Qaeda's chief in the kingdom, and Moroccan Abdel Karim al-Mejati, suspected mastermind of the Madrid train bombings, during clashes this week. The pair were among 15 Al-Qaeda suspects killed in a three-day gunbattle which ended Tuesday in the northern Al-Qassim region, the ministry said in a statement carried on official media. It was the bloodiest battle in a nearly two-year-old campaign by Saudi security forces against Islamist militants behind a wave of attacks in the ultra-conservative Muslim Persian Gulf state. The killing of...

JEDDAH, 10 April 2005 — The Interior Ministry yesterday confirmed the death of Saud Al-Otaibi, the leader of Al-Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia, and Moroccan Abdul Kareem Al-Majati, the No. 4 on the list of 26 most wanted terrorists, in last week’s gunbattle in Al-Rass. In a statement, an official source at the ministry said 15 terrorists were shot dead in the three-day gunbattle at Al-Rass, 320 km northwest of Riyadh. The toll went up as security agents found one more body in the area during combing operations. Meanwhile, Crown Prince Abdullah said yesterday that the government with the help...

"We will make them know the meaning of terrorism." - audio tape (AP) An audio recording appearing on an Islamic Web site Thursday claimed to represent the new al Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia, and he promised to dispatch fighters to join the Iraqi insurgency. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the tape, posted on an Islamic Web site run by Mohammed al-Masaari, head of a Saudi opposition group called the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights in Saudi Arabia. The tape purported to contain the voice of Saleh al-Aoofi, a fugitive who is high...

The suicide bomber who blew himself up in a U.S. mess hall in Mosul, Iraq, on Dec. 21 was Saudi Arabian, according to the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. Ahmed Said Ahmed al-Ghamdi killed 22 people. His profile upsets the conventional — and faulty — perception of terrorists as uneducated, poor and desperate individuals. Al-Ghamdi was well-educated — a medical student. And he came from a wealthy and well-connected Saudi Arabian family. His father is a Saudi ambassador. Al-Ghamdi's profile is similar to those of the 15 Saudis who participated in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States....