RIYADH, 22 June 2004 — As the search for the body of terror victim Paul Johnson went into its fourth day yesterday, the US Embassy here posted details of a reward scheme for information on terrorist activities on its website.

But an embassy spokeswoman said it was “too early to tell” whether anyone helping to capture terror suspects or helping solve cases in the Kingdom would qualify for a reward under the scheme.

The “Rewards for Justice” program in principle applies all over the world and continues to offer $25 million for the capture of Osama Bin Laden and $10 million for Mulla Omar.

However, spokeswoman Carol Kalin told Arab News it was “too early to say that anyone in Saudi Arabia will qualify for the rewards for helping the security agencies in handling the terror attacks in Yanbu, Alkhobar and in Riyadh recently.”

Security forces meanwhile scoured several districts and suburbs of the capital in search of the body of Johnson, a US engineer beheaded by Al-Qaeda gunmen, but had yet to report recovering the remains.

Residents said security forces began searching a number of houses in the Al-Munisiyeh neighborhood east of Riyadh late Sunday, cordoning off the area overnight.

Initial reports following Al-Qaeda’s announcement of Johnson’s execution on Friday, coupled with grisly photos of his beheading posted on websites, said the body was found in Al-Munisiyeh.

The reports subsequently turned out to be unfounded.

Similar searches for the body or clues leading to it were under way at about the same time overnight yesterday in the eastern neighborhood of Al-Rawdah and in the southern Suwaidi district, known as a stronghold for sympathizers of Al-Qaeda, according to witnesses.

On Sunday evening, security forces surveyed the Malaz neighborhood where Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, the leader of the Al-Qaeda cell that murdered the 49-year-old Johnson, was shot dead along with three associates in a gunbattle with security forces, shortly after the beheading was announced.

Inhabitants of Sitteen Street in the district were asked to list the names of their family members living there, residents said.

One Al-Malaz resident reported hearing a brief burst of gunfire at about the same time.