Fox News reports via Reuters that the Soddies have bumped off al-Muqrin in a shoot-out in Riyadh. More as it comes...
| Here's the Reuters copy... |
Reuters - The leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, has been killed, Al Arabiya television reported Friday. Muqrin claimed responsibility for the beheading of a U.S. engineer Friday and the killing of other Westerners in the kingdom, which has battled Osama bin Laden's group for over a year. Arabiya gave no further details.
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Fox News reports al-Muqrin and two other cut-throats were killed while disposing of Johnson's body. At least there's a little bit of justice in the world. |
 The leader of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia was killed Friday, Arab satellite stations Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera reported. The news was given in a scrolling news bar at the bottom of the screens. Abdulaziz al-Moqrin is at the top of the list of suspects in Saudi Arabia and is believed to be the leader of the group calling itself al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which claimed responsibility for the beheading of American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr.
Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin, the leader of al Qaeda's cell in Saudi Arabia, was killed, Saudi security sources told CNN. He was killed while disposing of Johnson's body, the Arabic-language television network Al-Arabiya reported. Al-Muqrin, the self-proclaimed military leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, had threatened Tuesday to kill Johnson in 72 hours unless the Saudi government released al Qaeda prisoners and Westerners left the Arabian Peninsula. "As we promised, we the mujahedeen from the Falluja Squadron slaughtered the American hostage Paul Johnson after the deadline we gave to the Saudi tyrants," said a statement on the Web site that has been translated from the Arabic. "So he got his fair share from this life and for him to taste a bit of what the Muslims have been suffering from Apache helicopter attacks. They were tortured by its missiles."
| And now you're hopefully shot to doll rags... |
Late Friday, soon after the discovery of Johnson's body, Saudi Arabian security forces and al Qaeda terrorists clashed in Riyadh, and a "number of terrorists" were killed, a Saudi diplomat said. "As we speak, Saudi security forces are engaged in a siege in central Riyadh," Adel Al-Jubeir, the foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, told reporters in Washington. He said he could not say how many terrorists had been killed.
| "I dunno. They ain't done yet. I don't think they're surrounded, though..." |
A Saudi security source said at least one of those killed was part of the cell led by Al-Muqrin, who said he was the one who kidnapped Johnson. It was not immediately known if the slain suspect had taken part in the abduction.
| My guess is that they did... |
Al-Jubeir said 15,000 security forces, working in conjunction with U.S. forces, had participated in the search for Johnson. The FBI stands ready to help Saudi Arabia track down Johnson's killers, a bureau official said Friday. "We are in close coordination with Saudi Arabia to determine what can be done to assist the Saudi authorities in this case now. But of course it is a sovereign country so it depends on what the Saudi government decides," the official said. Al-Muqrin had claimed responsibility for Johnson's kidnapping and the death of another American, Kenneth Scroggs, on Saturday on behalf of a group called the Falluja Squadron, which claims to have ties to al Qaeda. |