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Saudi TV broadcast pictures Saturday of four bloodied bodies, purportedly those of al Qaeda's top leader in the country and three other militants, who Saudi officials said were slain in a gun battle after decapitating an American hostage.
The al Qaeda cell allegedly led by Abdulaziz al-Moqrin fulfilled its threat to
kill engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., beheading him and showing grisly photos on
the Internet on Friday.
The slaying drew a chorus of condemnation from around the world, with even one
of America's staunchest foes, Syria, calling it a "shameful crime."
Saudi officials said al-Moqrin and the other militants were killed in a gun
battle hours later in the Saudi capital, after they dumped Johnson's body from
their car.
However, the governor of Riyadh said Saturday that Johnson's body has not been
found, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. The comment would appear to
contradict earlier accounts that the body was found just outside the capital,
and the discrepancy in reports could not immediately be reconciled.
The death of al-Moqrin, 31, would be a coup for Saudi Arabia's government, which
has been beset by a wave of attacks on Westerners aimed at driving foreign
workers from the kingdom and undermining the ruling royal family, hated by al
Qaeda. Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda's leader, is a Saudi exile.
James Oberwetter, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, welcomed the development
but warned it didn't mean the threat of violence has ended.
"A great deal was accomplished last evening. We also believe that much remains
to be done," Oberwetter told reporters. "The Saudis are doing an excellent job
of working on their most wanted list - and working people off that list - but
not everyone who is a threat has been removed from the list and maybe there are
many more."
Oberwetter said American officials have not seen Johnson's body.
The televised pictures of the dead militants appeared to be aimed at refuting
denials by Islamic militants that he was killed. A posting on an Islamist Web
site Saturday said claims of al-Moqrin's death were "aimed at dissuading the
holy warriors and crushing their spirits."
The statement was impossible to verify, but appeared on a Web site where similar
claims have been made in the past. It began with a Quranic verse that urges
believers to ensure the truth of information they receive, and was similar in
appearance and tone as past messages.
It said another statement would appear soon.
A televised picture of one of the dead men showed the face of a young man,
clean-shaven except for his mustache and resembling past pictures believed to be
of al-Moqrin. Al-Ekhbariya, an all-news Saudi satellite channel, showed a full
photograph of the same corpse, covered with blood.
A trickle of blood ran from the mouth of another of the militants pictured, and
the teeth of a third appeared smashed.
A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity Friday confirmed al-Moqrin's
killing, while a Saudi official said forensic tests would confirm the body's
identity.
How the alleged militants died remained unclear, particularly after the
governor's report that Johnson's body was not found.
The Interior Ministry said only that the four were killed in "confrontations"
with security forces.
But Saudi officials said the gun battle came after a witness saw Johnson's body
being dumped from a car and informed police of the car's license number.
Police stopped the car at a gas station in Riyadh's al-Malaz neighborhood and a
fierce gun battle erupted, during which the four militants died, the officials
said. Al-Ekhbariya broadcast footage of the station showing blood on the street
and on merchandise inside.
An Interior Ministry identified the four dead as al-Moqrin, Faisal Abdul-Rahman
al-Dikheel, Turki bin Fuheid al-Muteiry and Ibrahim bin Abdullah al-Dreiham.
The Saudi Press Agency said al-Dikheel, also on the kingdom's list of the 26
most-wanted militants, was involved in a number of killings and apparently was
featured in video footage of Johnson's slaying.
It said Al-Muteiry was among the militants involved in a May 29 attack in the
oil hub of Khobar that killed 22 people. Al-Dreiham was linked to the Nov. 8
suicide bombing at Riyadh housing compounds that killed 17.
In Friday night's gun battle, one security officer was killed and two wounded,
the SPA reported. Two suspects escaped, according to a Saudi security official
who participated in the fight.
A security official in Riyadh said Rakan Mohsen Mohammed Al Saykhan, the second
most-wanted Saudi militant, was wounded in the clash and arrested.
He is an alleged associate of the mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole in
Yemen's port of Aden in October 2000.
The Interior Ministry statement said authorities had confiscated three cars used
by al-Moqrin's cell, including one believed to have been used in the June 6
killing of Irish cameraman Simon Cumbers.
Also confiscated were forged identity papers, $38,000 and a weapons cache,
including three rocket-propelled grenade launchers, hand grenades and automatic
rifles, the statement said.
Johnson, 49, who had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade, was
kidnapped last weekend by militants who threatened to kill him by Friday if the
kingdom did not release its al Qaeda prisoners. The Saudi government rejected
the demands.
Three photos of Johnson's body were posted on the Web as the deadline ran out.
One showed his severed head, face toward the camera, being held by a hand. Two
other pictures showed a body lying on a bed with the head placed in the small of
the back. The body was in a bright orange jumpsuit, similar to one Johnson was
seen wearing in earlier videos released by the kidnappers.
A statement, in the name of Fallujah Brigade of al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula, said that "the infidel got his fair treatment. ... Let him taste
something of what Muslims have long tasted from Apache helicopter fire and
missiles."
Johnson had worked on Apache helicopters for Lockheed Martin.
"To the Americans and whoever is their ally in the infidel and criminal world
and their allies in the war against Islam, this action is punishment to them and
a lesson for them to know that whoever steps foot in our country, this decisive
action will be his fate," the al Qaeda statement said.
There are 35,000 Americans among the millions of Westerners who work in Saudi
Arabia.
Soon after the statement appeared, a number of Web sites that had links to it
became inaccessible, with messages saying they were closed for maintenance.
Johnson's beheading is the latest in a new, more dramatic wave of terror attacks
for Saudi Arabia: bodies dragged on streets, traffic police blown up in their
offices, hotel guests taken hostage and a chef shot outside an ATM machine. The
attacks have killed dozens of people, mostly foreigners, over the past two
months.
The violence is escalating despite an aggressive campaign by the government to
root out terrorism, leaving many wondering whether the attacks are just the
beginning or - as the government continues to insist - the last gasps of a
desperate group reacting to the pressure of the hunt.
Johnson was seized on June 12, the same day that Islamic militants shot and
killed Kenneth Scroggs of Laconia, New Hampshire, in his garage in Riyadh.
Scroggs worked for Advanced Electronics Co., a Saudi firm whose Web site lists
Lockheed Martin among its customers. The office number on Johnson's business
card was for Advanced Electronics.
The same week as Scroggs' death, militants shot and killed another American,
Robert Jacobs, and Cumbers in Riyadh.
World governments condemned Johnson's beheading.
President Bush condemned the beheading and vowed that "America will not be
intimidated by these kinds of extremist thugs." British Prime Minister Tony
Blair called the killing "an act of barbarism." Condemnation also came from Arab
governments and Islamic leaders in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.
Ahmad Haj Ali, a Syrian Information Ministry official, called Johnson's killing
"a shameful crime, which is alien to Arab and Muslim morals."
But one Islamic leader in Indonesia predicted more killings of the kind unless
the United States changes its approach toward the Middle East.
Irfan Awwas, chairman of the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia, a radical Islamic
group, said that to avoid more such attacks, the United States should leave Iraq
and Afghanistan and stop Israeli violence against Palestinians.
"The killing of innocent people is wrong," Awwas said. "But it is a result of
the United States policies in the Middle East."
Moderate Islamic leaders in Indonesia, however, said Johnson's death would do
little to change U.S. policy.
"This will only create more violence and won't solve the problem. It will only
strengthen the American resolve," said Azyumardi Azra, a Moslem scholar at the
National Islamic University in Jakarta.
Indonesia has faced a growing threat from radical religious groups, including
the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah. The group is blamed for the Oct. 12, 2002,
bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, on Indonesia's Bali
island.
A top Saudi Arabian official expressed his country's remorse for Johnson's
killing and promised to find and punish those responsible.
"We did everything we could to find him," Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs
adviser Crown Prince Abdullah, said in Washington. "We are deeply sorry that it
was not enough."
In Galloway Township, New Jersey, grieving relatives of Johnson hoped for
privacy as they decide what to do next, according to a family spokesman.
The family released a statement Friday praising U.S. and Saudi authorities for
efforts to rescue him.
"They knew the odds were not in the favor of law enforcement," said Joseph Billy
Jr., an FBI agent who spoke on the family's behalf. "They also know that the
vast majority of citizens of Saudi Arabia also grieves with them at this time."
CBS News Correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports that for Americans living in
Saudi Arabia, the murder of Paul Johnson may make some reconsider their decision
to stay in the country.
"I think they're going to be rattled and very frightened about what happened,''
said one American, who asked not to be identified. "The manner in which he died
is extremely horrific and shocking.
Secretary of State Colin Powell says terrorists would earn a victory if American
workers leave Saudi Arabia in response to a spate of terrorist attacks,
including Johnson's murder.
Powell said Friday he is hopeful that Americans will remain in the kingdom as a
result of increased personal safety measures they take on their own as well as
heightened protection from their employers and from the Saudi government.
"If they leave, then the terrorists have won," Powell said.
Powell was interviewed by the Radio America network. A transcript was made
available Friday night by the State Department.
The State Department reminded American citizens Friday night in a public
announcement that "extremists may be planning attacks against Westerners and oil
workers in the Persian Gulf region."
French President Jacques Chirac said he was "horrified" by Johnson's killing,
which he described as beastly and inhuman.
"I can only express the shame that we all feel faced with the behavior coming
from human beings of this nature," Chirac said Friday at a summit of European
Union leaders in Brussels.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard called the slaying an "evil act without
any conceivable justification."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said "these kinds of brutal acts do not help
anybody."
"My sympathies go to his family and loved, and I hope the perpetrators would
eventually be brought to justice because we cannot tolerate this kind of
behavior in today's world," he said at the U.N. headquarters in New York.
In Thailand, leaders expressed sympathy for Johnson's Thai wife Thanom, who
issued a tearful, televised plea to her husband's captors on the eve of his
execution.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch called Johnson's slaying "a heinous crime
that no political cause can justify."
In Jordan, King Abdullah II said on state-run Jordanian radio it was "scary and humiliating that this crime has been committed in the name of Islam. Such heinous acts of terror do not represent the true values of Islam which is based on tolerance, compassion and peaceful coexistence."
CFPA: Islam is based on tolerance, compassion and peaceful coexistence....Since when????
19 June 2004
