RIYADH, 23 June 2004 — Riyadh Deputy Governor Prince Sattam has conveyed the condolences to the widow of US engineer Paul Johnson, who was beheaded by Al-Qaeda gunmen last week, diplomatic sources said.
Prince Sattam told Thanom Johnson the government and the people of Saudi Arabia condemned the “ugly crime” against a man “who loved the Kingdom and was known for his sincerity toward the Saudi people.”
Saudi Television aired footage of the prince with the widow, a Thai, who moved millions when she appeared on Al-Arabiya channel last Friday to plead for the release of her husband as an execution deadline by his captors neared.
Hours after Johnson’s captors posted gruesome photos of his beheaded corpse on websites on Friday, Saudi security forces shot dead the leader of the group, Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin and three top associates.
The search for the body continues amid fading hopes for its recovery.
Meanwhile, a local paper said police here discovered a major “information center” of Al-Qaeda terrorists. According to a report in Okaz, a raid in the Al-Suwaidi district, a known hotbed of extremism, uncovered the headquarters of the Sawt Al-Jihad Islamic website which has disseminated several statements, videos and photographs credited to “Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.”
The paper also claimed police arrested two men whose names appeared on a list of 26 suspected Al-Qaeda members released by the authorities in December last year. This would reduce the list to 14 after a number of others were either captured or killed.
A team of patrol police uncovered tailor shops used to make the uniforms worn by the extremists in Riyadh, according to Okaz.
Officers raiding the hideouts of terror suspects found sewing machines and fabric used to sew military uniforms that gunmen wear to pass themselves off as security officers, Okaz added.
A purported Al-Qaeda statement earlier claimed sympathizers within the security forces had supplied the group with uniforms and other equipment.
