Two of 26 Most Wanted Terrorists Die of Gunshot Wounds

Author: 
Staff Writer
Publication Date: 
Sun, 2004-07-04 03:00

RIYADH, 4 July 2004 — The Interior Ministry said yesterday security investigations had uncovered the deaths of two senior terrorists who died from untreated wounds after clashes with security forces in April.

Rakan ibn Mohsen Al-Seikhan and Nasser ibn Rashid Al-Rashid — both on a list of 26 most wanted suspects — were wounded during the April 12 clashes in Riyadh, in which another terror suspect and a policeman were also killed.

A ministry statement said Rashid had developed gangrene from serious leg injuries, and was told by a doctor that unless the leg was amputated within 48 hours he would die.

“Three of his colleagues bought medical supplies, including an electric saw, and amputated his leg in a primitive manner at one of their hide-outs, and he died,” the statement said.

It said five of those who helped bury him were arrested but did not say when. The graves have not been found.

The ministry said Seikhan was shot in the chest. Fellow militants took him to an uninhabited house and then to the capital’s Suwaidi area, a known militant stronghold.

“He received no medical attention and died the next day,” the ministry said.

The statement said Seikhan’s burial was overseen by then Al-Qaeda leader in the Kingdom Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, who was killed along with three other leading militants by police last month after the group beheaded an American hostage.

It said one terrorist who had helped move Seikhan was Awad Al-Awad, whom security forces killed two days ago. Others had been arrested when security forces located the two hide-outs. “Those corruptors lack humanity, mercy and pity...and put their own interests before the lives of those who share their deviant ideology,” the ministry said.

It urged terror suspects to respond to a limited government amnesty for them to surrender by the end of July.

Crown Prince Abdullah announced the one-month amnesty last week on behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd.

Al-Qaeda, in an Internet newsletter, has denounced the amnesty and said it was doomed to fail. However, two wanted suspects, one of whom appeared on the list of 26, have since surrendered to security authorities. Both came from the southern province of Asir.

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