Sunday, Jun 06, 2004
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By Atul Aneja
MANAMA, JUNE 5. Saudi police and suspected militants clashed this morning in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea city of Jeddah and a manhunt has been launched to nab the culprits. The militants reportedly fired from moving cars and were on the run, despite an hour-long pursuit by Saudi police. The shooting came nearly a week after the deadly Al-Qaeda attack in the oil city of Al-Khobar, in which 22 persons were killed. The Al-Khobar strike pushed oil prices to a record high of above $ 42 a barrel. The police after initial investigations of the car licence plates believed that the gunmen were known security suspects, but were unlikely to be part of the core list of 26 wanted militants. On Friday, Al-Qaeda's top leader in the kingdom, Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, called on Saudis to support the armed campaign to topple the U.S.-allied Saudi monarchy. He also praised an Al-Qaeda attack in the Saudi city of Yanbu in early May, the killing of a German in Riyadh two weeks ago and Wednesday's shooting on U.S. military personnel near Riyadh. Besides, he rejected Riyadh's claim that security forces had killed two militants near the western city of Ta'if on Wednesday, who were linked to the Al-Khobar attacks. He warned that 2004 would be "bloody and miserable." However, Saudi's highest religious authority, headed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh, called on people to report any suspected militants.
Killers' escape
AFP reports from Dubai: The alleged leader of the deadly assaults in Al-Khobar tells in a purported interview released today how he and two accomplices escaped from security forces. The version of events provided by the man identified as Fawaz ben Mohammad Nashami contradicts an official Interior Ministry statement and as well as claims that the trio had struck a deal for safe passage against the lives of remaining hostages. The Ministry said three of the killers escaped but the leader, one of the most wanted militants in the kingdom, was wounded and captured when Saudi commandos landed on the roof the building at dawn last Saturday. ``It was almost 11:30 at night, the security forces thought we were still in the hotel,'' Nashami said in an interview released by Islamist sources and posted on websites. He explained that they jumped from the roof onto soft ground near a watercourse hours before the commandos showed up. ``Then we hid outside the complex and at dawn we moved out from the hideout,'' he said. ``We seized a Saudi national guard car and after exchanging fire with the security forces, our brother Nimer was killed while the three of us managed to escape.''
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