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Arabia
Al-Muqrin Remained a Brutal Killer All His Life
2004-06-20
"We just didn't notice it while he was alive...
Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News
The man considered the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom had been a gun for hire around the world since his teens. Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, 31, was believed to be the leader of the group calling itself variously “Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” or the “Fallujah Brigade” that claimed responsibility for beheading Paul M. Johnson. Al-Muqrin’s fighters are blamed for a recent string of terror strikes in the Kingdom, among them the May 29 shooting and hostage-taking in Alkhobar that killed 22 people, most of them foreigners, and the Nov. 8, 2003, suicide bombing at Riyadh housing compounds that killed 17, mostly non-Saudi Muslims working in the Kingdom.

Al-Muqrin was born and bred in Suwaidi, a district in Riyadh known as a hotbed of lunacy extremism. A BBC cameraman was shot and a correspondent wounded while reporting in Suwaidi earlier this month in front of the home of another terrorist gunned down by security forces there earlier. Al-Muqrin dropped out of high school in the late 1980s and fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan after training with Osama Bin Laden. He later fought in Bosnia and in Algeria, where he was involved in weapons smuggling from Spain via Morocco. Subsequently, Muqrin went to Somalia where he organized tribal fights against Ethiopia. He also fought in Bosnia Herzegovina with a group of Saudi youth. Security sources say he was arrested in 1999 for illegally crossing the border into Yemen and was sent home, where he spent two years in prison before being released for good behavior.

Al-Muqrin took over Al-Qaeda operations in the Kingdom after his predecessor Khaled Ali Al-Haj was killed by security agents earlier this year, but he had masterminded attacks before that. Al-Haj, a Yemeni, had succeeded Yousef Al-Airi, who was killed in a clash with security forces in early 2003. Al-Muqrin, known as a smart and brutal tactician, was the most-wanted terrorist in Saudi Arabia. His attacks in recent months showed a measure of tactical flexibility — car bombs as well as pinpointed strikes like the kidnapping of Johnson, a first in the Kingdom. His cell also used the Internet for publicity, posting videos and photos as well as accounts boasting of the group’s atrocities. An Internet statement last month purportedly from Al-Muqrin said Al-Qaeda relied on independent cells that function without “organizational cohesion.” The statement said Al-Qaeda cells follow the group’s example as well as books and periodicals on how to carry out attacks.

In another Internet statement attributed to Al-Muqrin, he indicated he was recruiting Saudis to fight the US-led occupation army in Iraq. “By sending our fighters to Iraq, we are not only serving the Iraqi cause but the cause of Islam,” the statement said. A video that surfaced on websites in April showed a masked man identified as Al-Muqrin vowing to expel Americans from the Arabian Peninsula.
Posted by:Fred

#2  because he memorized the Quran....look where it got him - top o' the islamoheap!
Posted by: Frank G   2004-06-20 2:46:42 PM  

#1  That is not entirely true. There was that time in a saudi jail when he behaved so decently that, he was realeased 2 years early.
Posted by: Anonymous4617   2004-06-20 2:25:38 PM  

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