Paul Johnson's killer dies

2004-06-19 08:18

Riyadh - The beheading of an American engineer in Saudi Arabia and the reported subsequent killing of one of the suspects on Friday brought a new urgency to the fight against terrorism in a day of carnage in the oil-rich nation.

The murder provoked condemnation by US President George Bush, who called the killers "barbaric people", and strong avowals that the United States would not back down in the global fight against terrorism.

"We must pursue these people and bring them to justice before they hurt other Americans," Bush said. "They are trying to intimidate America. They are trying to shake our will, trying to get us to retreat from the world."

But Bush vowed that "America will not retreat. America will not be intimidated by these kinds of extremist thugs".

The government of Saudi Arabia chose to make its first official confirmation of the killing in the US capital, symbolic of its growing unease over escalating terrorist attacks in its own country and concern over its public image in the United States.

The haunting image of a living blindfolded Paul Johnson, 49, and the pleas of his family for mercy became familiar to global television audiences over the past week.

But on Friday, the ordeal came to an end. At a grim, solemn news conference, Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign affairs adviser to crown Prince Abdullah and a longtime fixture in the Saudi embassy in Washington, confirmed Johnson's "brutal murder" and "gruesome death".

US officials have confirmed that Johnson was beheaded, according to photographs they were shown, media reports said.

The leader of al-Qaeda militants who claimed responsibility for killing the American, Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, was later killed in a firefight with government forces, Arabic broadcaster al-Arabiya reported early on Saturday. Al-Arabiya early on Saturday reported that 10 suspected militants connected to al-Muqrin were arrested in Riyadh.

Al-Muqrin's group, which called itself al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, kidnapped Johnson on June 12. The group demanded the release of terrorist suspects from Saudi jails and the expulsion of foreign "infidels" from Saudi soil.

The US government has urged all Americans to leave Saudi Arabia for months, during a spate of attacks aimed at Americans that began with bombings in May 2003 and moved to individual assassinations and kidnappings in recent weeks, and repeated the warning Friday.

But al-Jubeir disagreed with the advice, saying Saudi Arabia doesn't "support moves like this" because it is giving terrorists what they want.

"We believe that one of the objectives of the terrorists is to drive people out of Saudi Arabia, and so as a consequence, we believe that calls for withdrawing people from Saudi Arabia could inadvertently play into the hands of the terrorists," he said.

Al-Jubeir said Johnson's body was found in the northern part of Riyadh, and said it "could be possible" that the aeronautics engineer had been killed earlier in the week.

With uncommon harshness, Al-Jubeir condemned Johnson's killing as a breach of the Islamic faith.

"His brutal murder illustrates the cruelty and inhumanity of the enemy we all are fighting," he said. "This is an attack against humanity, an attack against decency, an attack against the innocent, and an attack against the universal values we all share as human beings."

Al-Jubeir spoke rapidly, and was visibly shaken by the events.

The Saudi official said a firefight was underway in Riyadh, and a "number" of terrorists had been killed, but he could not confirm it was connected to Johnson's killing. He said security forces were "engaged in a siege in the al-Malazz area of Riyadh, which is in central Riyadh where we believe members of al-Qaeda are hiding out". - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA