RIYADH/JEDDAH, 24 June 2005 — A statement posted on the Internet by the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi, said yesterday that Abdullah Al-Rashoud, one of the most wanted men on a Saudi list of 26 terrorists, had been killed in US airstrikes on the Iraqi town of Qaim near the Syrian border.
Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Mansoor Al-Turki told Arab News: “The authorities can neither confirm nor deny the information of Al-Rashoud’s killing that was mentioned in the statement.” He said security forces in the Kingdom would not stop hunting for terror suspects until the ministry can confirm the reports of their deaths.
“We have seen these reports, but have no information on them. It’s being investigated, but as of this time, we have no confirmation,” US Army Staff Sgt. Nick Minecci told Arab News by telephone from the coalition’s Combined Press Information Center, CPAC, in Baghdad.
Abdullah Muhammad Rashid Al-Rashoud, 37, had been No. 24 on the list of the 26 most wanted terror leaders put out by the Kingdom two years ago and was one of only three militants on the list still at large.
The web posting, the authenticity of which could not be confirmed, said he slipped into Iraq in April. “He entered Iraq a month and a half ago as an immigrant crossing the border to Al-Fayafi and Al-Qaffar to Al-Qaim to participate in the battles there. He responded to God’s call and was seeking his paradise and wanted glory for his religion,” the statement said. It did not mention the date he was killed but said that it was due to the aerial bombings of the city.
“When the Crusaders could not enter the area, the only thing they could do was bombard the Mujahedeen with warplanes,” it said. “Our sheikh (Al-Rashoud) got what he wished” — martyrdom.
With the death of Al-Rashoud, the number of remaining top terrorists in the Kingdom are down to two: Saleh Al-Aufi, the alleged leader of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, and Taleb Al-Taleb.
Asked to give a number of Saudi fighters in Iraq, Interior Ministry spokesman Al-Turki cited previous statements by the interior minister and other officials that said “the Kingdom does not have any information of the number of Saudis in Iraq.”
Al-Rashoud was originally reported killed in July 2004 clashes in Saudi Arabia, but Saudi officials quickly denied the report and said he was still at large.
Al-Rashoud was one of the religious leaders of the terrorists in the Kingdom. He issued statements through the Internet calling for young men to join him and his fellow terrorists in fighting jihad.
He was known to be a very aggressive and argumentative man. When the Saudi government merged the Girls’ Educational Department with the Boys’, Al-Rashoud led a group of men to the Grand Mufti’s house and demanded that action be taken to prevent the merger.
Al-Rashoud attacked two well-known Saudi scholars: Sheikh Salman Al-Ouda and Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali, and accused them of being cowards for changing their stands.
Al-Rashoud issued “fatwas” to his followers allowing them to kill and attack government officials.
He was imprisoned in 1997 for accusing government officials of being infidels.
— Additional input from Barbara Ferguson in Washington
