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| Arabia |
| Saudi hunt for kidnapped American |
| 2004-06-13 |
| U.S. and Saudi authorities were searching Sunday for a missing American who al Qaeda militants claim to have kidnapped after killing another U.S. citizen in Riyadh. U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said he had no details about the online claim from a group called Al Falluja Squadron, which identified the man. The department said it learned of the missing man Saturday around 1 p.m. ET when the family contacted the embassy. The missing man was identified as Paul M. Johnson Jr. by his son, Paul Johnson III, of Port Saint Joe, Florida. Johnson told CNN affiliate WESH-TV that his father was the man pictured on an jihadist Web site and that his father had worked in the Middle East since 1982. He also said neither the State Department nor Lockheed Martin, the missing man's employer, had contacted him about the disappearance. "I'm waiting on the State Department to give me an answer [and] his company," Johnson said. "You know, this should not have happened. This could have been very preventable." The man was reported missing shortly after gunmen killed Kenneth Scroggs, an American working for a British-Saudi company, at his home in Riyadh's upscale Malaz neighborhood. A statement on the Web site identified the man it said it had kidnapped, posting a driver's license, passport, business card and other documents and described him as a system engineering "specialist" for the Apache AH-64 helicopter. "We have our legal right to treat them [hostages] the same way they treat our people," the statement said. "We will publish more details about the man kidnapped and explain the mujahedeen's demands." The group added, "We will continue this determination in the same road toward Jihad and for supporting our brothers in Palestine, Iraq, Cuba and everywhere." |
| Posted by:.com |
| #1 The Sods might be hunting, but not very hard. Besides which, when caught and cornered, Soddie terrorist prey always seems able to give the "hunters" the slip. The hunters are both incompetent and corrupt. |
| Posted by: Mark 2004-06-13 6:50:23 PM |