Saudi Arabia aired photographs yesterday on national TV of four wanted militants killed in a firefight after dumping the mutilated body of a US hostage, including the bloodied corpse of the reputed leader of al-Qaeda in the kingdom.
The al-Qaeda cell allegedly led by Abdulaziz al-Moqrin fulfilled its threat to kill Paul M. Johnson, Jr., beheading him and showing the grisly photos on the Internet on Friday.
Afterward, US and Saudi officials said privately that al-Moqrin was killed in a shootout.
PHOTO: AP
A statement posted yesterday on an Islamist Web site denied that, saying such claims were "aimed at dissuading the holy warriors and crushing their spirits."
The killing of al-Moqrin, 31, would be a coup for the Saudi government, which has been pressed to halt a wave of attacks against Westerners in the kingdom.
Condemnation of Johnson's killing came from around the world, with even one of the US' staunchest foes, Syria, calling it a "shameful crime."
One of the photographs, the Saudi TV announcer said, was of Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the kingdom's most-wanted terror suspect. It showed the face of a young man, clean-shaven except for his mustache and resembling past pictures believed to be of al-Moqrin, apparently dead. Saudi news channel Al-Ekhbariya showed a full shot of al-Moqrin's corpse covered with blood.
A trickle of blood ran from the mouth of another of the militants pictured, and the teeth of a third appeared smashed.
The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) identified the three other militants killed as Faisal Abdul-Rahman al-Dikheel, Turki bin Fuheid al-Muteiry and Ibrahim bin Abdullah al-Dreiham.
The four were cornered at a gas station in the al-Malaz neighborhood in the capital Riyadh, and died in a heavy exchange of gunfire with Saudi security forces. Al-Ekhbariya featured footage of the gas station where the shootout took place, with blood on the street and covering some merchandise inside.
According to the SPA statement, al-Dikheel -- also on the kingdom's list of the top 26 wanted militants -- was involved in a number of killings and was apparently featured in video footage of Johnson's killing. Al-Muteiry was among the militants to flee the scene of the May 29 shooting and hostage-taking attack on the oil hub of Khobar that killed 22 people, and al-Dreiham was linked to last Nov. 8's suicide bombing at Riyadh housing compounds that killed 17, the statement added.
One security officer was killed in the Friday raid and two others were injured, the statement on SPA said.
Saudi officials in Washington said on condition of anonymity that five Saudi security officers were killed in the gunbattle. Two suspects escaped, said a Saudi security official who participated.
Al-Moqrin was believed to be behind numerous attacks on foreigners in the kingdom, including the kidnapping and ultimate beheading of Johnson, an employee of the US defense contractor Lockheed Martin whose death was reported on Friday.
Saudi newspapers denounced Johnson's killers and hailed the efforts of Saudi security forces. The Interior Ministry provided no details on how the operation -- said to have begun with a citizen calling in the number of the vehicle from which Johnson's body was dumped -- played out.
However, the statement said that authorities also confiscated three cars used by the cell, including one believed to have been used in the June 6 killing of Irish cameraman Simon Cumbers.
Forged identity papers and a large amount of weapons also were confiscated, including three rocket-propelled grenade launchers, hand grenades and automatic rifles, the statement said.
Johnson's severed head was shown on a Web site on Friday. A statement, in the name of Fallujah Brigade of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said "the infidel got his fair treatment. ... Let him taste something of what Muslims have long tasted from Apache helicopter fire and missiles."
Johnson had worked on Apache helicopters for Lockheed Martin.
Also See Story:
World leaders slam hostage beheading
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the