JEDDAH, 20 August 2004 — The Interior Ministry has released new pictures of seven most wanted terrorists — Saleh Muhammad Al-Aufi, Sultan Bajad Al-Otaibi, Abdullah Saud Al-Subaie, Abdul Majeed Muhammad Al-Manie, Bandar Abdul Rahman Al-Dakhil, Abdullah Muhammad Rashid Al-Rashoud and Abdul Rahman Muhammad Yazji.
The seven, all Saudis, are from a list of 26 militants wanted by security agencies for their involvement in terrorist operations in different parts of the Kingdom. The list was published in December last year.
The ministry has posted an award of SR1 million for providing information leading to the capture of a wanted terrorist, SR5 million for information on a group of terrorists and SR7 billion for information that would help prevent a terrorist attack.
The authorities have launched a major campaign against militants since the terrorist bombings on residential compounds in Riyadh on May 10 last year. They have arrested or killed 15 of the wanted terrorists bringing the number of the remaining militants on the run to 11. Two of the most wanted terrorists in custody were among the six militants who surrendered to the authorities during a one-month royal amnesty offered to Al-Qaeda supporters on June 23.
More than 90 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, many of them foreigners, in a string of terror attacks in the Kingdom over the past 15 months.
Security agents are also hunting Kareem Al-Tihami Al-Majati, Hussein Muhammad Al-Hasaki, both Moroccans, Taleb Saud Al-Taleb and Saud Hamoud Al-Otaibi from the list of 26 most-wanted militants.
Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, who was No. 1 on the list and commander of Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom, was killed by security forces along with three associates following a gunbattle in Riyadh on June 18.
Other terrorists killed by police were: Rakan Mohsen Al-Saikhan, Khaled Ali Haj, Ibrahim Muhammad Al-Rayyes, Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al-Fadhli, Faisal Abdul Rahman Al-Dakhil, Khaled Mubarak Al-Qurashi, Isa Saad Aushen, Mustafa Ibrahim Mubaraki, Nasser Rashid Al-Rashed and Talal Anber Al-Anbari.
Mansour Faqeeh and Othman Al-Amri, who were on the list, surrendered to the authorities while Faris Al-Zahrani, considered the terrorist group’s ideologue, was arrested in Abha.
Meanwhile, security forces have arrested 13 people with suspected links to acts of terrorism in the western resort city of Taif.
Security forces surrounded the Gazelle Valley in south Taif on Wednesday where the group was holed up. The suspects did not resist arrest and were taken away for interrogation, media reports said.
