Saudi security forces ‘helped to kidnap Johnson’

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.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula made the claim in an account of the operation posted on an Islamic extremist website on Sunday.

It said Saudi security forces provided uniforms and police cars to militants who then set up a fake checkpoint to kidnap Paul M. Johnson Jr. The militants say they posed as police to stop Johnson’s car, anaesthetised him and carried him to another car.