Adornado
06-20-2004, 12:39 PM
From Yahoo News (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040620/ts_nm/security_saudi_dc)
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Saudi Arabia told al Qaeda militants on Sunday it would not allow them to destabilize the kingdom and warned they would share the fate of their slain leader unless they repented.
Undeterred by the death of Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, the leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, the group vowed renewed "holy war" in the country.
Muqrin was shot dead by Saudi forces on Friday with three other prominent militants hours after they beheaded American hostage Paul Johnson, whose body has still not been found.
Saudi analysts who have contacts with militants said on Sunday they expected al Qaeda to name Saleh al-Awfi, a former Interior Ministry employee, as Muqrin's successor.
"We will not allow a corrupt group led by deviant thought to violate the security and stability of this land," King Fahd, Saudi's ailing ruler, told the opening of the Saudi consultative Shura Council on Sunday in comments on official agency SPA.
"The real Muslim has nothing to do with these actions and has no sympathy for those who carry them out," he added.
Late on Saturday, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah warned the militants: "We tell this deviant group and others that if they do not return to the right path, they will meet the same fate (as Muqrin) or worse."
State television showed the corpses of the militants, blaming them for a wave of violence against foreigners in the Gulf state, a key U.S. ally and the world's biggest oil exporter.
Al Qaeda confirmed the killings of Muqrin and three others in an Internet statement on Saturday but 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.
MUQRIN SUCCESSOR?
Awfi, tipped as Muqrin's successor, once fought in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and is one of the 26 most wanted men listed by Saudi Arabia in December. At least 10 of those men have since been killed or captured by security forces.
Al Qaeda, led by the fugitive Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) who is blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, has vowed to expel "infidels" from the birthplace of Islam. Muqrin had warned that 2004 would be "bloody."
Twelve other militants were arrested on Friday, including a senior figure suspected of involvement in the bombing in 2000 of the U.S. warship Cole off the coast of neighboring Yemen.
Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir said Riyadh would pursue Islamic extremists without mercy.
"We believe that with this blow to al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia yesterday, we have substantially weakened their organization," Jubeir said.
He said reports on Friday that Johnson's body had been found were incorrect. Security forces were still searching for the corpse, believed to be in the Riyadh area.
The 49-year-old aviation engineer, who worked for defense contractor Lockheed Martin making Apache helicopter gunships, used by U.S. and Israeli forces, was killed after Saudi authorities refused to free jailed Islamists by a Friday deadline. Muqrin's cell posted photographs of Johnson's severed head on a Web site, six days after he was kidnapped in Riyadh.
Johnson was the third American killed in Riyadh in the past 10 days.
The Saudi Interior Ministry named the three militants killed with Muqrin as Faisal al-Dakheel, Turki al-Muteiri and Ibrahim al-Dreihim. Dakheel had been wanted for killings including that of an American in Riyadh, it said.
Muteiri was one of the gunmen who escaped after an attack on foreigners in the oil city of Khobar in May wich killed 22 civilians, and Dreihim helped prepare the suicide bombing of an expatriate residential compound in Riyadh in November, it said.
Muqrin, driven by hatred of Washington and its Arab allies, was a veteran of Bosnia's 1992-95 war and one of a hit squad which tried to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) in Ethiopia in 1995, said militant expert Mohsen al-Awajy.
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20040620/thumb.sge.gax88.200604115050.photo04.default-384x256.jpg
Saudi Arabia told al Qaeda militants on Sunday it would not allow them to destabilize the kingdom and warned they would share the fate of their slain leader unless they repented.
Undeterred by the death of Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, the leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, the group vowed renewed "holy war" in the country.
Muqrin was shot dead by Saudi forces on Friday with three other prominent militants hours after they beheaded American hostage Paul Johnson, whose body has still not been found.
Saudi analysts who have contacts with militants said on Sunday they expected al Qaeda to name Saleh al-Awfi, a former Interior Ministry employee, as Muqrin's successor.
"We will not allow a corrupt group led by deviant thought to violate the security and stability of this land," King Fahd, Saudi's ailing ruler, told the opening of the Saudi consultative Shura Council on Sunday in comments on official agency SPA.
"The real Muslim has nothing to do with these actions and has no sympathy for those who carry them out," he added.
Late on Saturday, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah warned the militants: "We tell this deviant group and others that if they do not return to the right path, they will meet the same fate (as Muqrin) or worse."
State television showed the corpses of the militants, blaming them for a wave of violence against foreigners in the Gulf state, a key U.S. ally and the world's biggest oil exporter.
Al Qaeda confirmed the killings of Muqrin and three others in an Internet statement on Saturday but 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.
MUQRIN SUCCESSOR?
Awfi, tipped as Muqrin's successor, once fought in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and is one of the 26 most wanted men listed by Saudi Arabia in December. At least 10 of those men have since been killed or captured by security forces.
Al Qaeda, led by the fugitive Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) who is blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, has vowed to expel "infidels" from the birthplace of Islam. Muqrin had warned that 2004 would be "bloody."
Twelve other militants were arrested on Friday, including a senior figure suspected of involvement in the bombing in 2000 of the U.S. warship Cole off the coast of neighboring Yemen.
Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir said Riyadh would pursue Islamic extremists without mercy.
"We believe that with this blow to al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia yesterday, we have substantially weakened their organization," Jubeir said.
He said reports on Friday that Johnson's body had been found were incorrect. Security forces were still searching for the corpse, believed to be in the Riyadh area.
The 49-year-old aviation engineer, who worked for defense contractor Lockheed Martin making Apache helicopter gunships, used by U.S. and Israeli forces, was killed after Saudi authorities refused to free jailed Islamists by a Friday deadline. Muqrin's cell posted photographs of Johnson's severed head on a Web site, six days after he was kidnapped in Riyadh.
Johnson was the third American killed in Riyadh in the past 10 days.
The Saudi Interior Ministry named the three militants killed with Muqrin as Faisal al-Dakheel, Turki al-Muteiri and Ibrahim al-Dreihim. Dakheel had been wanted for killings including that of an American in Riyadh, it said.
Muteiri was one of the gunmen who escaped after an attack on foreigners in the oil city of Khobar in May wich killed 22 civilians, and Dreihim helped prepare the suicide bombing of an expatriate residential compound in Riyadh in November, it said.
Muqrin, driven by hatred of Washington and its Arab allies, was a veteran of Bosnia's 1992-95 war and one of a hit squad which tried to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) in Ethiopia in 1995, said militant expert Mohsen al-Awajy.