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| Monday, 21 June 2004 |
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Saudi Arabia says Qaeda weakened, group vows to fight on RIYADH, Sunday (Reuters) Saudi Arabia said it had substantially weakened al Qaeda by killing its leader in the kingdom after the group beheaded a U.S. hostage, but militants vowed renewed "holy war" in the world's biggest oil exporter. Islamic extremists and followers of Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, gunned down by Saudi forces within hours of American hostage Paul Johnson's death, would be pursued without mercy, Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir said in Washington. Muqrin, Saudi Arabia's most wanted man, was killed with three other prominent militants. State television showed their four bloodied corpses and said they were behind a recent wave of violence against foreigners in the country. Jubeir, an adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, said reports that Johnson's body had been found were incorrect. Saudi security forces were still searching for the corpse, believed to be in the Riyadh area. Twelve other militants were arrested in the operation, including one senior militant believed to have been involved in the bombing in 2000 of the U.S. warship Cole off the coast of neighbouring Yemen. "We believe that with this blow to al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia yesterday, we have substantially weakened their organisation. We will continue to pursue them with vigour until we eliminate them from our midst," Jubeir told a news conference. "We are resolved to fight terrorism, those who fund it and those who justify it. We will show no mercy." Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia confirmed the killing of Muqrin and the three other militants but a statement on the al-Qalaa Web site voiced defiance. "The Mujahideen are continuing the jihad (holy struggle) that they have pledged to God and the killing of their brothers will not weaken their resolve but only increase their determination and commitment," it said. Regarding the search for Johnson's body, Jubeir said: "The body has not yet been recovered." He added that the search was continuing, focusing on the northern outskirts of Riyadh. Jubeir said "our people are outraged" by the violent acts of al Qaeda and Johnson's death. Johnson was killed after Saudi authorities refused to free Islamist prisoners by a Friday deadline set by Muqrin's cell. Muqrin's group had posted photographs of Johnson's severed head on a Web site, six days after the 49-year-old aviation engineer was kidnapped in Riyadh. An Interior Ministry statement read out on television named the other three dead militants as Faisal al-Dakheel, Turki al-Muteiri and Ibrahim al-Dreihim. Dakheel was wanted for killings including that of an American in Riyadh, it said. Muteiri was one of the militants who escaped after an attack on foreigners in the Gulf city of Khobar in May and Dreihim had been involved in preparation of the bombing of an expatriate residential compound in Riyadh in November, it said. The statement said the four men were tracked down to a petrol station in the Malazz district of central Riyadh. One Saudi security officer was also killed and two wounded. Security forces found three cars, including one used in an attack earlier this month on a British Broadcasting Corporation television crew in Riyadh, it added. They also found guns, three rocket propelled grenades, 16 pipe bombs, 10 hand grenades and currency worth around $37,000. The 32-year-old Muqrin, driven by hatred of Washington and its Arab allies, was Saudi Arabia's most wanted al Qaeda leader. |
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