ABU DHABI – Saudi Arabia has trapped the leadership of Al Qaida in a
desert town in the northern kingdom.
Saudi security sources said the leadership of the Al Qaida network in
the kingdom has been holed up in a house in the northern town of Al Ras. The
sources said two members of the leadership have already been killed and the
head of the entire network was trapped inside.
"The operation is continuing," Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen.
Mansour Al Turki said. "The security forces have surrounded them. There is
still gunfire from the besieged building."
Saudi security sources said Interior Ministry forces and special
operations troops have been involved in a battle that has lasted about 48
hours in the northern province of Qassim, Middle East Newsline reported. The sources said at least eight
insurgents were killed and more than 50 officers were injured in the battle,
which continued into Tuesday.
About 1,000 Saudi troops, armed with heavy weapons and armored vehicles,
have surrounded a villa and instructed to capture the gunmen alive, the
sources said. They said at least three insurgents have been captured, one of
them identified as a leading Al Qaida operative.
Two other insurgents were said to have been killed in the shootout. On
Tuesday, the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television quoted Saudi security sources
as identifying the two as Saud Al Oteibi and Abdul Karim Al Mejati, cited on
the Interior Ministry's list of 26 most wanted fugitives.
Al Mejati, a Moroccan national, has been identified as the mastermind of
the Al Qaida suicide bombings in Casablanca in 2003 and linked to the Madrid
train bombings in March 2004. He was described as an expert in explosives.
Al Oteibi was said to have been a Saudi national.
The security sources said the head of the Al Qaida network was still
alive and participating in the battle with Saudi soldiers. He was identified
as Saleh Al Awfi, a former prison guard.
Last month, Al Awfi announced his return as head of Al Qaida's network
in Saudi Arabia. Al Awfi was thought to have been killed or incapacitated in
September 2004.
Security sources said the insurgents were firing rocket-propelled
grenades and machine guns toward security forces. They said the house used
by the insurgents could be booby-trapped.
Officials said several buildings, including a girls school, near the Al
Qaida safe house were evacuated during the gun battle. They said Al Qaida
had taken over Al Ras and sought to use it as a base for operations against
the kingdom.
The shootout was said to have been the single longest battle since the
Al Qaida takeover of a Western compound in Khobar in May 2004. Saudi
officials said three out of the four major Al Qaida networks have been
dismantled.
