TV airs photos of dead militants

Saudi Arabia killed four suspected terrorists, including the reputed leader of al-Qaida in the kingdom, the Interior Ministry said today.

It was the first official word on a shoot-out that followed the beheading of an American hostage, and was accompanied by television pictures of photographs of the dead militants.

One of the photographs, the announcer said, was Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the kingdom’s most-wanted terror suspect. It showed the face of a young man, clean-shaven except for his moustache, apparently dead.

Earlier, a message posted on a website used by Islamic militants claimed reports of al-Moqrin’s death were false.

The Interior Ministry statement also said 12 militants had been arrested.

“Security forces managed last night in confrontations with a group of terrorists to kill four of them, the top being Abdelaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, who claims to be the leader of the gang that condemns people as infidels,” the state-run TV announcer said, reading from a statement attributed to an unidentified spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

The Interior Ministry statement also said authorities confiscated three cars used by the cell, including one believed to be used in the June 6 killing of Irish cameraman Simon Cumbers.

BBC correspondent, Frank Gardner was seriously wounded in that attack.

Forged identity papers and a large amount of weapons also were confiscated, including three rocket-propelled grenade launchers, hand grenades and automatic rifles, the statement said.

The shoot-out occurred after Saudi security forces tracked down the al Qaida cell that beheaded American engineer Paul Johnson, in a swift retaliation for his murder.

Johnson, who was kidnapped last weekend, was the latest victim of an escalating campaign of violence against Westerners that aims to drive foreign workers from the kingdom and undermine the ruling royal family, hated by al Qaida.

In a video posted on the internet on Tuesday, a hooded al-Moqrin held an assault rifle and shouted demands for the release of al Qaida prisoners as a blindfolded Johnson sat in a chair.

The cell was rumbled after a witness reported the registration number of a car from which the militants dumped Johnson’s body.

Police stopped the vehicle at a petrol station, security officials said.

But they were too late to save Johnson, whose severed head was shown on a website yesterday.

The photographs and a statement, in the name of Fallujah Brigade of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, appeared after Johnson’s wife went on Arab television and tearfully pleaded for his release.

“In answer to what we promised … to kill the hostage Paul Marshall (Johnson) after the period is over … the infidel got his fair treatment,” the al Qaida statement said.

“Let him taste something of what Muslims have long tasted from Apache helicopter fire and missiles.”

Johnson, 49, worked on Apache attack helicopter systems for US defence company Lockheed Martin. His captors had threatened to kill him by yesterday if the kingdom did not release its al Qaida prisoners. The Saudi government rejected the demands.

US president George Bush said the execution “shows the evil nature of the enemy we face”.

“They’re trying to get us to retreat from the world,” Bush said. “America will not retreat. America will not be intimidated by these kinds of extremist thugs.”

Johnson’s family in Galloway Township, New Jersey, said authorities worked as hard as they could to rescue him, and that his murder did not dampen their respect for his adopted country.

“Paul considered Saudi Arabia his home. He loved the people and the country,” said FBI agent Joseph Billy Jr, speaking on behalf of Johnson’s relatives.

“They also know this act of terrorism was committed by extremists and does not represent the Saudi Arabia that Paul often spoke and wrote about to his family,” he said.

Shortly after discovering Johnson’s body 20 miles north of the capital, Saudi police swooped on the al-Malz neighbourhood in central Riyadh and exchanged fire with al Qaida suspects.

Saudi officials in Washington said five Saudi security officers were killed in the gun battle. Two suspects escaped, said one Saudi security official who took part in the raid.

A US official confirmed that al-Moqrin, 31, was one of the dead. A Saudi official said forensic tests would be conducted on the body to confirm his identity.

A senior Saudi official in Washington identified the other dead militants as:

:: Turki al-Sahaid, said to have been involved in the May 29 shooting and hostage-taking attack on the oil hub of Khobar that killed 22 people, most of them foreigners.

:: Faisal Abdulrahman Abdullah al-Dakheel, who was on the government’s list of 26 most-wanted militants.

:: Rakan al-Sakhain, the second most-wanted man and an alleged associate of the mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen’s port of Aden in October 2000.

:: Ibrahim al-Drhaim, who was not identified further.

There are 35,000 Americans among the millions of Westerners who work in Saudi Arabia.

Johnson is the second American to be kidnapped and beheaded in the Middle East in just over a month.

American businessman Nicholas Berg was beheaded by his captors in Iraq, and his last moments later appeared on a videotape posted on an al Qaida-linked website. His body was found on May 12. US officials say al Qaida-linked Muslim militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have been Berg’s killer.

Johnson’s beheading is the latest in a new, more dramatic wave of terror attacks for Saudi Arabia – bodies dragged on streets, traffic police blown up in their offices, hotel guests taken hostage and a chef shot outside a cash machine. The attacks have killed dozens of people, mostly foreigners, over the past two months.