THE al-Qaida group responsible for abducting and killing an American engineer say they were aided by sympathisers in the Saudi security forces — a claim denied by Saudi authorities.

The al-Qaida group that beheaded an American engineer said sympathisers in the Saudi security forces provided police uniforms and cars used during the victim’s kidnapping, according to an Islamic extremist website.

THE head of the al-Qaida cell that beheaded an American engineer justified the killing in a message written before he himself was shot dead by Saudi security forces.

Police in armoured vehicles and a helicopter closed off three Riyadh neighbourhoods in a pre-dawn search today for more Islamic extremists and for the body of the American hostage beheaded by al-Qaida.

The terror cell which executed a US hostage in Saudi Arabia was today implicated in the attack in which Irish cameraman Simon Cumbers was killed while working for BBC.