JEDDAH, 28 May 2007 — Security forces yesterday arrested Majid ibn Ma’aidh Al-Harbi, one of three wanted suspects behind the Feb. 26 killing of four French nationals 90 km north of Madinah.
Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, Interior Ministry spokesman, said: “The wanted suspect was arrested in a desert area of the Hail region, 100 km south of the city.”
Al-Harbi — along with Abdullah ibn Sayer Al-Muhammadi and Nasser ibn Lateef Al-Balawi, two wanted suspects still at large, and Waleed ibn Mutlaq Al-Radadi, a Saudi national who was killed in a shootout in Madinah in the early hours of April 6 — was involved in the shooting of the four French nationals. The Interior Ministry had previously named Al-Radadi as the mastermind behind the shootings. In 2005 Al-Radadi featured on a list of 36 most-wanted terror suspects in the Kingdom. One police officer was killed and two others were injured in the Madinah shootout on April 6.
Providing information about the murders on Feb. 26, the Interior Ministry in a statement issued on April 18 said that Al-Radadi was traveling to the village of Al-Melaileh accompanied by Majid ibn Ma’aidh ibn Rashid Al-Harbi when they spotted the lost French tourists who were looking for the remnants of the Hejaz Railway.
Al-Harbi and Al-Radadi left the scene only to return later with another wanted terrorist, Abdullah ibn Sayer Al-Muhammadi. The three men then took part in the killings. After the shooting, the three Saudis were joined by Nasser ibn Lateef Al-Balawi, who is also on the run. Following the Madinah shootout in which Al-Radadi was killed, forensic experts found guns that were used in the murder of the Frenchmen at Al-Radadi’s hide-out.
