US hostage's head found

2004-07-21 13:59

Riyadh - The head of slain American hostage Paul Johnson, who was kidnapped and beheaded by militants in Saudi Arabia last month, was found by Saudi security forces during a raid on a militant hideout that left two militants dead, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

In a statement broadcast on Saudi al-Ekhbariya television, the interior ministry said the head was found in a freezer in an apartment. The statement said the rest of the body was not found.

Johnson, a 49-year-old engineer who had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade, was kidnapped June 12 by militants in Riyadh who followed through on a threat to kill him if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaeda prisoners. An al-Qaeda group claiming responsibility posted an internet message that showed grisly photographs of a beheaded body on June 17. The video of the beheading was posted later.

Hours after the pictures of the beheading appeared on the internet, Saudi security forces shot and killed Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, alleged mastermind of Johnson's kidnapping and beheading.

Last week, US authorities announced the search for Johnson's body had been called off.

Johnson's son in Florida, Paul Johnson III, 28, had been pressing US officials to do more to find his father's body.

The Saudi interior ministry said Johnson's head was found after a search of one of three locations following the late Tuesday raid.

Earlier, an interior ministry official said authorities were holding the wife and three children of Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, the man believed to be al-Moqrin's successor, after the raid in which two militants were killed and three others wounded.

One of the dead militants, identified by the Interior Ministry as Issa Saad Mohammed bin Oushan, is on the Saudi government's list of wanted militants. The statement did not name the wounded.

Pan-Arab news station have reported that al-Aoofi may be among the casualties.

- AP