Monday, June 21, 2004

Saudis search for body of beheaded American

By Dave Montgomery
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

and Shannon Mccaffrey
Knight Ridder News Service

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Thousands of Saudi security forces combed Riyadh and the surrounding area Saturday searching for the body of beheaded American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., contradicting earlier reports that it was dumped on a darkened street in the capital.

Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, the kingdom's de facto ruler, told reporters in Washington, D.C., 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 is no doubt that Johnson, 49, had been killed. He said Johnson had been identified by a detailed technical analysis of grisly photos of the kidnapped Lockheed Martin employee's decapitated corpse posted on the Internet.

The al Qaeda cell that called itself al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fulfilled its threat to kill Johnson. The slaying drew a chorus of condemnation worldwide, with even one of America's staunchest foes, Syria, calling it a "shameful crime."

Hours after Johnson's slaying, security forces at a roadblock intercepted the cell's leader Abdelaziz al-Moqrin and other militants, sparking a gunbattle that ended with four militants dead and 12 others captured, al-Jubeir said. One of the cars is believed to have been used in the June 6 killing of Irish cameraman Simon Cumbers, the Interior Ministry said.

A Saudi security official said one of those caught was Rakan al-Saikhan and identified him as a planner of the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.

An Interior Ministry official identified the four dead as al-Moqrin, the kingdom's most wanted terrorist; Faisal Abdul-Rahman al-Dikheel; Turki bin Fuheid al-Muteiry; and Ibrahim bin Abdullah al-Dreiham.

Al-Dikheel, also on the kingdom's list of the 26 most-wanted militants, was thought to be al-Moqrin's top deputy. Al-Dikheel was involved in a number of killings and was apparently featured in video footage of Johnson's slaying, the Saudi Press Agency said.

Al-Muteiry was among the militants involved in an attack May 29 in the oil hub of Khobar that killed 22 people, the report said. Al-Dreiham was linked to the Nov. 8 suicide bombing at Riyadh housing compounds that killed 17.

This report includes material from the Associated Press and The New York Times.

# ANTENNA SHARON | 11:59:00 am |