Top Saudi al-Qaeda man killed
2005-07-04 11:31
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - In a swift and telling victory, Saudi anti-terror forces killed al-Qaeda's top leader in the key US ally in a gun battle, but experts warn the kingdom still faces a surge in attacks despite its two-year crackdown on militants.
The 90-minute battle on Sunday in the eastern Rawdah district, an upscale neighbourhood in the capital Riyadh, was the latest blow dealt to Osama bin Laden's group in Saudi Arabia, whose leaders have either been killed or captured since authorities launched an unrelenting offensive against it in 2003.
Moroccan Younis Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hayari was killed in a dawn raid by security forces in an area where suspected militants were hiding, an interior ministry official was quoted by Saudi Press Agency as saying.
Anonymity
Three other suspected militants were arrested, a security official said. He said the three men were on a recently issued list of 36 most-wanted terrorists.
SPA, quoting an unidentified official, reported that al-Hayari headed al-Qaeda in the kingdom.
"He (al-Hayari) was nominated by his peers, and following the death of those preceding him, to be the head of sedition and corruption in the land," the official said in the SPA report.
- AP