Al-Qaida leaders killed in Saudi gun battle
A three day gun battle between Saudi security forces and suspected al-Qaida fighters ended today with at least ten militants killed, a security official said.
The Interior Ministry said two al-Qaida leaders were among those killed in the battle. It was the highest casualties among militants in a single fight since Saudi Arabia launched its crackdown on armed extremists in 2003.
Among the dead were two men believed to be the number four and number seven figures on Saudi Arabia’s list of most wanted terrorists, a senior military official said.
A| well as the 10 killed in fighting since Sunday, an unknown number of militants had been holed up with a large arsenal of weapons in the large white villa under construction in ar-Rass’s Jawazat district. Scores of security personnel had cordoned off the area.
Once the stand-off was over, some forces withdrew, while others combed the area, collecting documents and searching for weapons and evidence, the official said.
The two dead leaders were reported to be Moroccan Kareem Altohami al-Mojati and Saudi Saud Homood Obaid al-Otaibi – numbers four and seven respectively on Saudi Arabia’s list of 26 most wanted al-Qaida-linked terror suspects.
Saudi newspapers carried profiles of the two men. Al-Mojati, the Moroccan, is a battle-hardened fighter who had fought in Afghanistan and is described as a supporter of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
The papers claimed al-Mojati had helped plan the May 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca that killed 33 bystanders and 12 suicide bombers. He was one of the top five remaining militants at large, following the capture or killing of 21 others.
Al-Otaibi is said to be one of two Saudi militants running al-Qaida’s branch in Saudi Arabia. Last year, he purportedly posted an Internet statement rejecting an amnesty offered by Saudi ruler King Fahd who promised militants that their lives be spared if they surrendered.
