The ministry said Baghdadi was killed on Friday while he was trying to cross the checkpoint south of Riyadh wearing a woman’s abaya to hide his identity.
The ministry said police were looking for Baghdadi because of his involvement in various crimes.
“Baghdadi was associated with a 113-member terrorist cell,” the ministry said, adding that Saudi security forces destroyed the cell in March.
Suspects arrested in that operation included Haila Al-Qusayyer, a financier of terrorist activities.
Baghdadi, a resident of Yemen, was killed while he was trying to run away from the Kingdom.
Days before his death, he reportedly had stayed in a Jazan hotel and established contacts with people in the region.
A young man who was accompanying Baghdadi has been arrested. He is a resident of Zahir district in Makkah. The 17-year-old was not carrying any identification at the time of his arrest except iqama copies of two Yemenis. Baghdadi had been training the young man for the last three months. He faces charges for abetting a wanted terrorist and providing him with logistics to run away from the country.
Police at the checkpoint stopped the car in which the men were traveling. When police were checking the identity of the driver, a teenager, the other man who was wearing an abaya, came out and opened fire at police.
“Security officers then shot the man dead,” one source said, adding that no police officer was killed or injured in the incident.
Meanwhile, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh called for dialogue with Al-Qaeda militants in order to change their thinking and ways. “Violence cannot be tackled with violence but through sound awareness programs. We should start this by inviting them for a dialogue,” he said.
Al-Asheikh urged security officers to keep a watch on Al-Qaeda’s websites to follow their movements and know those who are associated with the network.
The mufti said his call was directed not only at militants but also khateebs (prayer leaders) and clerics. As many as 1,500 militants have backed down from their extremist views as a result of counseling given to them by experts through the Internet.
