Six Saudi security agents seeking militants were killed in a hail of gunfire in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, according to Saudi officials and a statement circulated in the name of al-Qaida on Friday. But the two versions differed after that, including on how the deaths occurred. The Saudi Interior Ministry indicated that they were killed in an ambush Thursday at the home of terror suspect Khaled al-Juwaiser al-Farraj, while the statement attributed to al-Qaida said they died in an exchange of gunfire there.
| Knowing something of the veracity of both sides, I don't believe either totally... |
The Al-Qaida statement, a copy of which was sent to The Associated Press Friday, said al-Farraj was detained and his father was critically wounded. The Saudi government said the father died. The al-Qaida statement did not explicitly identify the militants as al-Qaida, but referred to them as "mujahedeen," or Islamic holy warriors.
| Since only Bad Guys acceptable to Qaeda qualify for the title, what's the difference? |
According to the Interior Ministry, al-Farraj was detained Thursday morning before any shooting occurred. Investigators then conducted a routine search of his apartment and the violence erupted. "Bullets were fired in their (agents’) direction through the gate of the house" that killed six officials and al-Farraj’s father, a ministry statement said. Riyadh governor Prince Salman said earlier that the government forces "did not fire a single bullet ... because they did not expect to encounter terrorists."
The ministry also said that seven people linked to the suspected group were arrested, but it wasn’t clear if those arrests came at the scene of the violence or elsewhere. The purported al-Qaida statement said all the militants escaped except al-Farraj.
| My guess is that the Soddies rounded up the neighbors... |
The al-Qaida statement, which was dated Thursday, vowed to continue fighting the Saudi government and its Western supporters, swearing to "take revenge on anyone who fights the faith and its people, or stands as a line of defense for the Crusader forces." The militants’ statement, under a headline of "The Voice of Jihad" and signed "The al-Qaida Organization in the Arabian Peninsula," was relayed to news organizations by the Saudi Institute, a dissident Saudi group based in Washington. There was no other immediate verification of the document’s authenticity, but it resembled the style of previous al-Qaida statements seen by AP. A line of fine print at the top said "The voice of the mujahedeen in the Arab Peninsula," a phrase previously used by al-Qaida. "The mujahedeen will continue on the path and force the infidels out of the Arabian peninsula," the statement said. The Saudi Institute, which monitors human rights in the kingdom and advocates democratic reforms, said it was alerted to the statement by an unidentified colleague in Riyadh. "I believe the statement is authentic. It resembles previous al-Qaida statements in form and language," said Ali al-Ahmed, the institute’s director. |