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Monday, June 21, 2004
US hostage in Saudi beheaded
Islamist sites show US hostage Paul Johnson beheaded by "Al-Qaeda" in Saudi Arabia.
DUBAI - Islamist websites on Friday night showed gruesome pictures of US national Paul Johnson, who was taken hostage by Al-Qaeda gunmen in Saudi Arabia, beheaded and his head placed on his back as he lay in a pool of blood.
"Delivering on our promise, the mujahedeen from the Fallujah Squad slaughtered the American prisoner Paul Marshall Johnson after the ultimatum set by the mujahedeen to the tyrants of the Saudi government expired," said a statement signed by "Al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula."
The sites carried three pictures of the beheaded captive, one of which showed him in a pool of blood with his head placed on his back.
Another showed the head on the back with a knife resting against the forehead, point first.
Johnson "met a just punishment ... by getting a taste of what he inflicted on Muslims (bombed) by US aircraft and missiles," the statement said.
The aeronautics engineer with top US defense contractor Martin Lockheed was "one of four Americans overseeing the electronic programs of those same aircraft in the land of the Two Holy Mosques (Saudi Arabia)," it said.
The statement and photos were posted on http://www.qal3ah.org and other Islamist websites.
A US embassy spokesman in Riyadh said only: "we're aware of the report."
There was no immediate official comment from the Saudi government, but CNN television quoted Saudi authorities as saying that "from our end we cannot confirm this. We have not found a body yet."
"Al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula" had posted a video on a website Tuesday night threatening to kill the 49-year-old Johnson unless the Saudi government freed detained militants, estimated at more than 700, within 72 hours.
Telephone numbers listed in that video showed Johnson worked, possibly on a contract basis, with a Saudi electronics firm.
Riyadh said it would not negotiate with terrorists and security forces scoured the Saudi capital in an unsuccessful bid to locate him. Washington also ruled out talks with the hostage-takers.
Johnson was abducted in Riyadh last Saturday, the same day another US national was killed in the Saudi capital as Al-Qaeda extremists escalated their attacks on Westerners in a campaign aimed at driving "infidels" from Saudi Arabia.
# ANTENNA SHARON | 11:51:00 am |
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