'No evidence of inside help'

2004-06-21 20:25

New York - A Saudi Arabian official on Monday said that there was no evidence to suggest that the terrorists behind the killing of American Paul Johnson got inside help from the kingdom's security forces.

"We have no evidence, anything to point that there was any collaboration between the (Saudi) security forces and the terrorists" Saudi Foreign Policy Advisor Adel al-Jubeir said, speaking on CNN's "American Morning" show.

The group, linked to al-Qaeda, purportedly posted a message on the internet saying Saudi police sympathisers provided cars and uniforms so the militants could fake a roadblock and snare the American defence worker.

Al-Jubeir said it is very easy to obtain military uniforms and paint cars to make them look like police cars.

Al-Jubeir said he believes the death of the top al-Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia and the capture of 12 other militants was "a major blow" to the network, but "wouldn't go as far as to say that the cell has been taken down completely."

"Our objective is to stop them from reconstituting," al-Jubeir said.

As of early Monday, Paul Johnson's remains had not yet been found, but al-Jubeir said once they are located, they will be returned.

"It's never easy to find remains...but we hope to find them soon and restore the remains to the family" al-Jubeir said.

Al-Jubeir shrugged off questions about why it took the Saudi police so long to find the alleged ringleader of the terrorist cell, blamed for a number of deadly attacks against Western targets.

Al-Jubeir noted that the US military was hunting for Osama bin Laden and tens of thousands of troops haven't been able to track him down yet.

- Dow Jones