Saudi Arabia says kills top al Qaeda militant
By Dominic Evans
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s security forces killedthe man at the top of its list of most wanted al Qaeda leadersin a clash in Riyadh on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said.
Moroccan national Younis Mohammad Ibrahim al-Hayyari,accused of involvement in a series of attacks in the world’sbiggest oil exporter, died after exchanging fire and hurlinghand grenades at police, the ministry said.
Hayyari topped a list of 36 al Qaeda suspects released byRiyadh last week. The ministry said he had helped prepareexplosives and played a part in several attacks in SaudiArabia.
“He was recently nominated by his colleagues to be theleader of strife and corruption in the land after the death ofhis predecessors,” the statement said.
A senior Saudi official described Hayyari, 36, whoreportedly fought in Bosnia in the 1990s and came to SaudiArabia in 2001, as a shadowy figure who was “more of astrategic leader than field commander.”
He was a link to al Qaeda outside Saudi Arabia, broughtfunds into the kingdom, and was friend to a Muslim scholarclose to al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zaraqawi, theofficial said.
Saudi Arabia has been battling suspected al Qaeda militantssince May 2003 when they launched a wave of violence withtriple suicide bombings at Western housing compounds in Riyadh.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef said Sunday’s operation wasthe result of extensive surveillance by Saudi security forces,and he pledged to pursue other suspected militants.
“God willing, we will reach the rest using the samemethod,” he said after seeing wounded security officers.
De facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah told President Bush inan Independence Day message that Saudi Arabia was determined to”work with its friends to uproot all factors of destruction andterrorism.”
Al Qaeda is fighting to expel non-Muslims from the Gulfstate, which is home to Islam’s two holiest sites in Mecca andMedina, and wants to topple its pro-Western absolute monarchy.
The attacks have killed 91 foreign nationals and Saudicivilians and wounded 510 others, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador toLondon Prince Turki al-Faisal said last week.
Forty-one security force members have been killed and 218wounded, while 112 militants have been killed and 25 wounded,he said. He put material losses at 1 billion riyals ($270million).
There have been fewer recent attacks, but last month gunmenkilled a security officer in Mecca and diplomats say threehelicopters were set on fire at a military base north ofRiyadh.
LEADERS KILLED
Successive leaders of the Saudi wing of al Qaeda have beenkilled since 2003 and Saudi officials say their replacementsare increasingly inexperienced. But Western counterterrorismexperts say al Qaeda has shown a resilience and ability toregenerate.
One other man was arrested at the scene of Sunday’s clashand two others surrendered in a simultaneous police raid in thesame district of eastern Riyadh.
Prince Nayef described Hayyari as a “dangerous man” butsaid others on the wanted list were just as dangerous. Thethree captured men were not on the list, he added withoutelaborating.
Last week Saudi Arabia issued its new wanted list of alQaeda suspects — most of whom are Saudis but some are fromChad, Yemen, Morocco and Mauritania.
It offered a reward of up to 7 million riyals ($1.87million) for anyone who helped authorities capture a militantor foil a planned attack.
One of the 36 suspects, Fayez Ayoub, flew back to Riyadh onFriday and surrendered to authorities. Newspapers have reportedat least two others on the list have already been killed inneighboring Iraq, where insurgents are battling U.S. forces.
All but two men on a previous list of 26 wanted militants,published in December 2003, are believed dead or in custody.