Saudi Arabia aired photographs on national television today of four wanted militants killed in a firefight after decapitating an American hostage, including the bloodied corpse of the reputed leader of al-Qaeda in the kingdom.
The al-Qaeda cell allegedly led by Abdulaziz al-Moqrin fulfilled its threat to kill Paul M Johnson, Jr., beheading him and showing the grisly photos on the Internet on Friday. Afterward, US and Saudi officials said privately that al-Moqrin was killed in a shootout. A statement posted today on an Islamist website denied that, saying such claims were “aimed at dissuading the holy warriors and crushing their spirits.”
One of the photographs, the Saudi TV announcer said, was Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the kingdom’s most-wanted terror suspect. It showed the face of a young man, clean-shaven except for his mustache and resembling past pictures believed to be of al-Moqrin, apparently dead. Al-Ekhbariya, an all-news Saudi satellite channel, showed a full shot of al-Moqrin’s 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. “Security forces managed last night in confrontations with a group of terrorists to kill four of them, the top being Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, who claims to be the leader of the gang that condemns people as infidels,” the state-run TV announcer said, reading from a statement attributed to an unidentified spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
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The official Saudi Press Agency carried a similar statement. It identified the three other militants killed as Faisal Abdul-Rahman al-Dikheel, Turki bin Fuheid al-Muteiry and Ibrahim bin Abdullah al-Dreiham.
The four were cornered at a gas station in al-Malaz neighborhood in the capital Riyadh, and died in a heavy exchange of gunfire with security forces. Al-Ekhbariya showed footage of the gas station where the shootout took place, with blood on the street and covering some merchandise inside.
James Oberwetter, the US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, called the cooperation “excellent”. He also praised Saudi security forces for the operation that killed the four militants.
Saudi newspapers also today denounced Johnson’s killers and hailed the efforts of Saudi security forces. Al-Riyadh daily newspaper quoted al-Moqrin’s father as saying he didn’t know what happened to his son, but “he has gone to his destiny.” Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin repeatedly had called on his son through the Saudi media to turn himself in.