Posted on 09/09/2005 2:42:23 AM PDT by Wiz
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 Jeheishi and Mohammed Al Suwailmi, all Saudis, some of whom took part in attacks against Westerners last year, the interior ministry said in a statement read on state television.
They all figured on a list of 36 most-wanted militants issued by the ministry in June.
Haseri, 26, was cited as having "taken part in the abduction and killing of a [foreign] resident" - an apparent reference to American engineer Paul Johnson, whose kidnapping and beheading in June 2004 marked the climax of a string of attacks against Western residents by presumed Al Qaeda extremists.
Explaining why it took security forces a long time to storm the "den" they had been besieging since Sunday, the interior ministry said that the "members of the deviant group" - official terminology for Al Qaeda suspects - had filled the site, located inside a crowded residential neighborhood, with explosives.
The assault only became possible after residents were evacuated, the ministry said, adding that security forces had defused more than 60 hand grenades and pipe bombs in one location alone.
(Excerpt) Read more at metimes.com ...
ping
"members of the deviant group"
They have a way with words . . .
Is the new King getting serious about taking on the terrorists?
that he had been voted 'Least Wanted Terrorist' in by Saudi officials.
My sentiments exactly!
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