Saudis search for American
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Thousands of Saudi security forces combed Riyadh and the surrounding area Saturday in search of the body of beheaded American engineer Paul Johnson as the U.S. ambassador here warned that the kingdom “remains dangerous for Westerners.”
Adel al Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, told reporters in Washington that Saudi forces were concentrating their search in the northern sections of Riyadh. “We think we know the area where it is,” al Jubeir said.
Even without the body, however, al Jubeir said there was no doubt that Johnson had been killed. He said Johnson had been identified by a detailed technical analysis of photos of Johnson’s decapitated corpse posted on the Internet.
The news that Johnson’s body had not been recovered contradicted early versions of how Saudi officials had tracked down the man believed responsible for Johnson’s death, Abdulaziz al Moqrin, and killed him Friday. Those versions had credited a witness with alerting police after spotting al Moqrin and accomplices disposing of Johnson’s body.
But al Jubeir said al Moqrin and three accomplices were trapped in a massive law enforcement net as they drove into the al Malaz district of Riyadh about 10 p.m., more than two hours after the photos of Johnson’s body were posted. Al Jubeir said their car was spotted at a gas station.
A gunbattle broke out, al Jubeir said, and al Moqrin and his three companions were shot dead. One Saudi security officer was killed and two injured in the street fighting, which al Jubeir said lasted about two hours..
“They followed leads, they followed tips,” Al Jubeir said of the police operation. “They would set up roadblocks and move roadblocks to keep the element of surprise and the terrorists fell into it.”
Al Jubeir said al Moqrin’s body was identified by a number of people who knew him but that DNA tests would be performed to confirm his identity.
Both U.S. and Saudi officials hailed al Moqrin’s death as a major blow to the al Qaeda terrorist network in Saudi Arabia. Al Moqrin, 31, whose terrorist career spanned six countries and a dozen years, had assumed the leadership of the Saudi al Qaeda cell in March. In addition to Johnson’s death, Saudi officials blame him for car bombings that killed dozens.
But even with al Moqrin dead, U.S. citizens and other foreigners remained fearful of further attacks, and one militant Web site dismissed the government’s claim that the al Qaeda cell had been badly damaged.
“The situation in Saudi Arabia remains dangerous for Westerners,” U.S. Ambassador James C. Oberwetter said.
He reiterated a State Department warning urging Americans to leave the country. “It will be sometime before we achieve a comfort level that the situation has returned to normal,” he said.
In Washington, al Jubeir offered reassurances, however. “I don’t believe the situation has reached panic point yet,” he said. “We believe the situation is under control.”
Johnson’s kidnapping and beheading was the latest and most horrific attack in a weeks-long terrorist offensive orchestrated by al Moqrin. Johnson, a Lockheed Martin engineer who worked on Apache helicopters for the Saudi military, was the third American defense worker killed in 11 days.
U.S. officials said all of the recent victims apparently were targeted after extensive surveillance by al Qaeda operatives.