 The Interior Ministry yesterday confirmed the death of Saud Al-Otaibi, the leader of Al-Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia, and Moroccan Abdul Kareem Al-Majati, the No. 4 on the list of 26 most wanted terrorists, in last week's gunbattle in Al-Rass.
| Yeah, their names have been floating about for the past week. Now it's official... |
In a statement, an official source at the ministry said 15 terrorists were shot dead in the three-day gunbattle at Al-Rass, 320 km northwest of Riyadh. The toll went up as security agents found one more body in the area during combing operations. The ministry described Otaibi as "head of the gang" as he took over the leadership of the Al-Qaeda cell after the death last year of Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, the No. 1 on the wanted list.
| I thought al-Oafi took it over? I'm so confused... |
Otaibi was responsible for bombings, including the attack on Al-Mohaya housing compound in Riyadh in 2003. "Otaibi was also involved in taking booby-trapped vehicles from Qasim to Riyadh, carrying out attacks on security officers and smuggling weapons into the Kingdom," the official said. Majati came to the Kingdom with his wife and two sons using fake passports, the ministry said. With the support of his son Adam, he kidnapped and killed an expatriate and carried out an attack on patrol police in Al-Ghat. Adam Al-Majati also died in the operation.
| Glad to hear the lad's passed on... |
Other terrorists killed and identified by the ministry were: Hani ibn Abdullah Al-Joaithen, Faisal ibn Muhammad Al-Baidhani, Majed ibn Muhammad Al-Masoud, Fawaz Mufdhi Al-Anazi, Abdul Rahman ibn Abdullah Al-Jarboue, Nawaf ibn Naif Al-Hafi, and Abdussalam ibn Suleiman Al-Khudairy.
| But no al-Oofi, even though their front organization in London said he'd been iced. |
The ministry named three of the six arrested terrorists as Adel ibn Saad Al-Dhubaiti, Hamad ibn Abdullah Al-Humaidi and Saleh ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Shamsan. The security forces had seized a large cache of weapons and explosives as well as documents and more than SR250,000 in cash from terrorists in the Al-Rass operation. |