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Saudi security forces killed a top al Qaeda leader in the kingdom
shortly after the decapitated body of American hostage Paul Johnson
Jr. was left in a remote area of Riyadh, security sources said.
 <=Paul
Johnson Jr. and his wife, Noom
Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin, the self-proclaimed military leader of al
Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, was killed while disposing of Johnson's body,
the Arabic-language television network Al-Arabiya reported.
Three other terror suspects also were killed -- including a senior
associate of al-Muqrin's who appears on Saudi Arabia's "Most Wanted"
list, Bandar Abdulrahman Abdullah Aldakheel -- the sources said.
All four were slain after a police chase and gunbattle in the Saudi
capital, the sources said.
Johnson, a 49-year-old Lockheed Martin Corp. employee, was kidnapped
in Riyadh last Saturday.
His body was found Friday in northern Riyadh soon after an Islamist
Web site posted photographs of his decapitated body.
U.S. officials said the remains were "definitely" Johnson's.
One photograph showed a severed head sitting on the back of a
headless body.
Al-Muqrin had threatened Tuesday to kill Johnson in 72 hours unless
the Saudi government released al Qaeda prisoners and Westerners left
the Arabian Peninsula.
"As we promised, we the mujahedeen from the Falluja Squadron
slaughtered the American hostage Paul Johnson after the deadline we
gave to the Saudi tyrants," said a statement on the Web site that
has been translated from the Arabic.
"So he got his fair share from this life and for him to taste a bit
of what the Muslims have been suffering from Apache helicopter
attacks. They were tortured by its missiles."
Johnson worked on Apache attack helicopters in Saudi Arabia and had
lived there for more than a decade.
Johnson's family in the United States, including his son, daughter,
brother and sister, has asked for privacy. The family issued a
statement thanking everyone "for the outpouring of support they have
received."
The family also praised the United States and Saudi Arabia for doing
"everything they possibly could to rescue Paul under very difficult
circumstances."
Lockheed Martin spokesman Tom Jurkowsky said the company is "dealing
with the family."
"All we can say is we're very distressed, very disheartened,"
Jurkowsky said.
President Bush offered his sympathies to Johnson's family.
Speaking in Seattle, Bush also said, "The murder of Paul shows the
evil nature of the enemy we face. ... We must pursue these people
and bring them to justice before they hurt other Americans."
'We did everything we could to find him'
Al-Arabiya first reported al-Muqrin's death. Video from the scene
showed police moving people away from a crowded residential area of
the capital.
Shortly before the news broke, Adel Al-Jubeir, the foreign affairs
adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, told reporters in Washington
that Saudi security forces discovered terrorist suspects fleeing in
cars, gave chase and then battled them in central Riyadh.
"A number of terrorists have been killed," he said. "We believe they
are part of the al Qaeda network in the kingdom. We don't know how
related they are to the murder of Mr. Johnson."
Shortly after his kidnapping, Paul Johnson Jr. was shown in this
video posted on a Web site linked to al Qaeda.
More than 15,000 Saudi security forces, working with U.S. forces,
combed areas believed to be al Qaeda hubs in recent days, searching
about 2,000 locations for Johnson and his captors, Al-Jubeir said.
"We did everything we could to find him. And we are deeply sorry
that it was not enough," he said.
As news of Johnson's killing spread, U.S. officials condemned the
terrorists.
Frank Lautenberg -- a Democratic senator from Johnson's home state
of New Jersey -- issued a scathing indictment of Saudi Arabia's
efforts to combat terrorism.
"The Saudi Arabian government has shown too much patience for these
terrorist cells and the ideologies of hate they preach. The United
States will no longer tolerate Saudi neglect of the extremists and
terrorists who live and thrive in the kingdom," Lautenberg said.
"All further relations with Saudi Arabia must be entirely contingent
on the kingdom's progress cracking down, reigning in and snuffing
out its terrorist problem. Deeds -- not words -- must be the
benchmark of Saudi progress in solving the terrorist problem that
threatens its society as much as it threatens our own."
'A tremendous sadness'
Carol Kalin, the media attach to the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, said
the embassy and the American community in Saudi Arabia felt "a
tremendous sadness at Paul's death."
Kalin said the embassy has been in close contact with Johnson's
widow, Noom, who earlier in the day tearfully pleaded for his
release.
"What can I do for him?" said Noom, a native of Thailand. "I want to
see him come back to see me. He don't do anything wrong, he nice
with the people. I never see him have problem in the 10 year here.
Never."
Kalin said the embassy is "strongly urging Americans to depart"
Saudi Arabia and urging "those Americans who do choose to remain to
exercise the utmost caution."
"It's tough times out here," she said.
Al-Muqrin had claimed responsibility for Johnson's kidnapping and
the death of another American, Kenneth Scroggs, on Saturday on
behalf of a group called the Falluja Squadron, which claims to have
ties to al Qaeda.
A senior U.S. State Department official in Washington told CNN the
United States will now act to "batten down the hatch and [not] give
them an easy target."
"We want Americans to leave. We want the people that are there to
take appropriate precautions," the official said.
The official added that Johnson lived away from the heavily
fortified expatriate compounds and "was a sitting duck."
The al Qaeda Web statement also said the killing was "a lesson for
them to learn for whoever comes to our country, this will be their
punishment."
Muslim friends of Johnson -- including some clerics -- had also
pleaded for his release. But the militants were not swayed.
The Web statement addressed those pleas.
"A lot of voices were very loud, expressing their anger for taking a
Christian military person as a hostage and killing him while they
kept their mouth shut from saying anything supporting those poor
Muslims who are in prisons and being tortured by the hands of the
cross-believers," the Web site statement said, an apparent reference
to the abuse of Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib prison. |