Al-Qaeda claims kidnap

2004-06-13 09:46

Dubai - The al-Qaeda terror network kidnapped a US aeronautics engineer and killed another US national in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, according to a statement attributed to the group and posted on an Islamist website.

"Our fighters of the Fallujah Brigade in the Arabian peninsula have kidnapped an American, a Christian, Paul M Johnson jun born in 1955 and working as an aeronautics engineer," said the statement signed "al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula" and published on the Islamist site on Saturday.

The statement was accompanied by several photographs of the American, a copy of his work permit, driving licence and health card, according to which he was working for top US defense contractor Lockheed Martin and came from the US state of Maryland.

The US State department in Washington confirmed a US citizen had been reported missing in Saudi Arabia by his family, but declined to confirm he had been kidnapped.

"We do have an American missing in Saudi Arabia," state department spokesperson Stuart Patt said.

"We heard that an Islamic website was making a claim but we have had no direct contacts with any organizations or persons claiming responsibility.

"We are not releasing the individual's name.

"The individual has been missing since early today (Saturday). He is a private US citizen, living in Saudi Arabia. His family reported him missing."

If confirmed, it is the first kidnapping of an American in Saudi Arabia.

The Islamist website statement said the kidnapped man worked with Apache helicopters.

"These aircraft have long been used by the Americans, their Zionist allies and the apostates to kill Muslims ... in Palestine, in Afghanistan and in Iraq," said the statement, which could not immediately be authenticated.

"The mujahadeen reserves the right to revenge their brothers (at the US base) in Guantanamo (Cuba) and Abu Ghraib (prison in Iraq), conforming with Sharia (Islamic law)," the statement continued, promising to release video footage of the hostage's "confessions".

The group also claimed responsibility for the killing of "another American" in the same area of the capital Riyadh where it said the kidnapping took place.

A US national was killed in a drive-by shooting in Riyadh Saturday, the latest in a string of attacks on Westerners in Saudi Arabia by suspected Islamist extremists since early May.

According to local security forces he worked for an electronics firm in the oil sector. He was not named.

- AFP