ABU DHABI ø U.S. officials have confirmed claims by Saudi Arabia that it has killed the commander of the Al
Qaida network responsible for the Gulf region.
Saudi officials said Khaled Ali Haj was killed in a shootout with Saudi
security forces on Monday in southern Riyad. The officials said Haj, a
30-year-old Yemeni, was the operations chief of Al Qaida in Saudi Arabia and
the surrounding Gulf Cooperation Council states.
Haj was also known as Abu Hazim Al Sha'aer. U.S. counter-insurgency
officials confirmed Haj's death and said he was responsible for Al
Qaida operations in both Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Persian Gulf
region.
Saudi officials said they expect a vacuum in the Al Qaida command as a
result of Haj's death. They said Abdul Aziz Muqrin, a Saudi national, was
expected to take over the Al Qaida network in the Persian Gulf. Muqrin has
been regarded as inexperienced and a Saudi front for the largely
Yemeni-operated Al Qaida regional network.
A Saudi Interior Ministry statement said Haj and Ibrahim Bin Abdul Aziz
Bin Mohammed Al Mezeini, a Saudi national, were riding in a vehicle when
they were ordered to stop by Saudi security forces. The two Al Qaida
insurgents attempted to flee and fired toward the Saudi officers. Security
forces returned fire and killed Haj and Al Mezeini.
The Interior Ministry said security forces found six hand grenades, two
AK-47 assault rifles, three 9 mm pistols and $137,000 in cash in
the vehicle.
Haj was trained by Al Qaida in Afghanistan in the 1990s. In 1999, he was
appointed the personal bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden and traveled throughout
the Persian Gulf.
In 2002, Haj was said to have succeeded Abdul Rahim Al Nashiri as Al
Qaida's operations chief for the Gulf region. Al Nashiri, who is also a
Yemeni national, was arrested at the end of 2002 and accused of organizing
the suicide strike against the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in 2000.
Saudi officials said Haj was a major planner of the Al Qaida bombings
against foreign housing compounds in Riyad in May and November 2003. He
appeared on the Saudi list of 26 top fugitives, now reduced to 22, most of
them Saudi nationals.
Meanwhile, Saudi authorities have arrested at least seven prominent
reformists. The arrests of the Saudi university professors came after they
criticized a human rights panel announced by Riyad.
