Saudi Arabian security forces shot dead a Yemeni man believed to be a leading al-Qaeda figure in the kingdom as well as another militant in a shootout in Riyadh on Monday, officials said.
The Saudi Press Agency quoted an Interior Ministry source as saying Khaled Ali Ali Haj, a Yemeni man said to be a senior al-Qaeda figure, was killed along with the suspected militant Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz bin Mohammad al-Muzainy.
The two men "opened fire on police after they refused to stop their car. Police responded, leading to their deaths," the Interior Ministry source said. No police were hurt.
Haj had been wanted by Saudi authorities since May. His name was one of 19 published days before triple suicide bombings -- blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network -- killed at least 35 people in Riyadh, including nine Americans.
"Khaled Ali Ali Haj was a very influential figure. If he was not the leader [of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia] then he was very close to the high ranks," Islamist lawyer Mohsen al-Awajy said.
"He was a hardliner. His death is a very substantial setback for the organization," he added.
Newspapers said that despite his seniority, Haj deliberately assumed a lower profile than other suspected al-Qaeda members, partly because the group's sympathizers might have preferred a Saudi leader.
One report said he trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 1997, where he worked closely with bin Laden. Before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US he visited Saudi Arabia several times, as well as countries in South-East Asia.
Saudi Arabia is battling a wave of militant violence blamed on al-Qaeda. Six months after the May bombings, militants killed at least another 18 people in another attack on an expatriate residential compound in Riyadh.
Saudi authorities have offered rewards of up to US$1.9 million for information leading to the arrest of 23 prominent militants still on the run.
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