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Leader of Riyadh bombers returned after Tora Bora
Terrorists who killed scores of people in three car bombings in Riyadh were part of an al-Qaeda cell whose hideout was raided by Saudi police on May 6. Interesting that they knew the raid was coming, isn't it? Formed after the September 11 attacks on the United States and led by Khaled Jehani, the terror cell's safe house was located near the three expatriate housing compounds that were hit by car bombs late Monday, Saudi officials told the Washington Post. Saudi officials told the daily that nine charred bodies found at the bomb site are believed to be those of the attackers. DNA samples from the bodies are being compared to relatives of members of the terrorist group whose locations were raided May 6. The 50 to 60-member al-Qaeda cell was formed by Jehani, a Saudi national who went abroad at 18, fought in Bosnia and Chechnya, and returned to his homeland after the US-led attack against an al-Qaeda stronghold in the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan in December 2001, Saudi officials said. Chechnya and Afghanistan seem to be a common link between most of these guys. Most of the terror group's weapons were smuggled through Yemen, they added. Saudi officials believe that after the US-led war on Afghanistan, hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters were told to return to their home countries and plan independent attacks on US, Jewish and other Western interests, officials said. He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. Jehani has been on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation list of al-Qaeda suspects since January 2002, the Post reported on Wednesday. The terror cell had planned numerous attacks in Saudi Arabia in the last year, all thwarted either because of strict security around the intended targets or because captured members of the cell revealed their plans, Saudi officials said. We could hope the Saudis expend a little more effort in picking these guys up. I'm afraid it's a faint hope. Posted by: Steve 2003-05-14 |
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