Al-Qaeda leader army trained

2004-06-22 20:21

Riyadh - The man most likely to step in and lead al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia reportedly trained with the Saudi military and worked as a prison guard before joining Muslim militants in Afghanistan.

Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi appears a logical choice to replace Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, mastermind of numerous terror attacks including the kidnapping and beheading of American engineer Paul Johnson. Al-Moqrin died in a shootout with Saudi forces on Friday after his cell announced it had killed Johnson.

Al-Aoofi, who Saudi newspapers and analysts say appears likely to become al-Qaeda's next leader in Saudi Arabia, is believed to be in his late 30s.

He received military training in Riyadh before joining the kingdom's prison guard unit. He also worked as a guard in the prison in Medina, near his hometown, before he was fired in 1992, apparently for misconduct.

A Saudi expert, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Aoofi's military training and his reputation for devotion to al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden made him a particularly good candidate to take over from al-Moqrin.

Saud Musaibeeh, a public relations official at the Interior Ministry, refused on Monday to comment on the possibility al-Qaeda had a new leader in the kingdom.

Al-Aoofi is fifth on the Saudi government list of most-wanted terrorists.

Brother calls for surrender p>Evan Kohlmann, a Washington-based expert on terrorism, said al-Aoofi would know the tactics and personnel of Saudi security forces. Kohlmann noted that al-Qaeda claims to have infiltrated the security forces and said that while Saudi officials reject that, al-Aoofi's background is evidence it is possible.

Al-Aoofi travelled to Afghanistan and joined al-Qaeda shortly after being fired, an indication he had had contacts with the group before leaving his prison job.

In Afghanistan, he met men who would later be his comrades in a Saudi terror network, according to Saudi newspaper reports.

Saudi experts on Islamic extremism, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Aoofi fought in Chechnya before returning to the kingdom in 1994 to open a car dealership in Medina that apparently was a cover for his terrorist activities.

He travelled again to Afghanistan shortly before September the 11 attacks on the United States to meet bin Laden and Taliban leaders.

In an interview on Monday with Okaz newspaper, al-Aoofi's brother, Ali, called on him to surrender for his mother's sake, saying he would "not find anyone better or more just and merciful than the state."

"The path you have taken is wrong and leads to doom, and God accepts the repentance of he who repents," Ali al-Aoofi said.

- AP