JEDDAH, 9 September 2005 — Five Al-Qaeda militants, who were killed in a three-day gunbattle with security forces in the eastern city of Dammam, figured on a list of 36 most-wanted terrorists, the Interior Ministry announced yesterday.
Four security men also died in the operation, which began with a shootout on Sunday in a commercial thoroughfare on Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd Street and ended Tuesday with the storming of a terrorist hide-out in the Al-Hamra district in the city.
The ministry identified the five terrorists as Zaid ibn Saad Al-Samari, 31; Saleh ibn Mansour Al-Fareedi, 22; Sultan ibn Saleh Al-Hasry, 26; Naif ibn Farhan Al-Jehaishy, 24; and Muhammad ibn Abdul Rahman Al-Suwailemi, 23.
The five were apparently planning a major terrorist attack in the city as police seized a large cache of weapons including rocket propelled grenades, machine guns and live ammunition as well as two barrels of explosives, pipe bombs and communication devices.
The terrorists were killed in Dammam, only 10 km from the Kingdom’s oil center of Dhahran, in one of the largest operations ever carried out by Saudi security forces.
A statement issued by the Interior Ministry described Al-Samari as one of the ideologues of the Al-Qaeda terror network in the Kingdom, adding that he had received military training in Afghanistan and had taken part in a terrorist operation in Riyadh last year targeting expatriates.
Arab News reported on Tuesday, quoting security sources, that Al-Samari was one of the two terrorists killed on the first day of the operation in a shootout near a supermarket on Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd Street.
The ministry called Al-Fareedi one of the group’s explosives experts, adding that he was involved in two terrorist attacks against security forces.
Al-Hasry was wanted for his involvement in the kidnapping and killing of an expatriate worker. The ministry did not name the expatriate worker but it may refer to American engineer Paul Johnson, who was kidnapped and beheaded in June 2004.
Al-Jehaishy, the statement said, was known among the group as a forgery expert, “who moved from one hide-out to another taking part in various terrorist operations.”
Al-Suwailemi had taken part in an attack on security patrol in Riyadh, the ministry said. He also provided logistic support to militants and recruited young Saudis to the terror network.
The ministry also said that 11 suspects of various nationalities had been arrested in connection with the Dammam battle. Security forces also found “forged documents for access to installations” inside the coastal villa, a once elegant, pillared building reduced to rubble by the three days of gunfire and explosions.
The Interior Ministry has set up a committee to assess the damage caused by the anti-terror operation to the buildings and cars in Dammam’s Al-Hamra district. The ministry has provided alternative accommodation to affected citizens and residents until their damaged houses are repaired.
