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| Arabia |
| Saudi government's recent violent encounters with "deviant group" |
| 2005-04-26 |
| April has been a very cruel month to Saudi Arabia this year. Scores of al-Qaeda fighters have been killed or captured by law enforcement agents in three separate incidents in this month alone. The government euphemistically calls the al-Qaeda terrorists members of "deviant group." Perhaps in the eyes of the government al-Qaeda is a wayward group even though most leaderships of the violent extremist group subscribe to Wahhabi Doctrine, which is also the official doctrine of the Saudi government (read Saudi Royal family). The news of these violent gun battles, which probably pale "Gunfight at the OK Corral" (1881 in Tombstone, Arizona, USA) did not get headline coverage in South Asian newspapers but surely we read the news both in print media and the Internet news site. Not one but three violent encounters took place, one in early April, and the other two in late April. The first one was extremely brutal in which at least 18 al-Qaeda fighters were gunned down in a small town, Ar-Rass, located 200 miles north of capital Riyadh. The encounter lasted 3 days (April 3-5, 2005) in which 14 Saudi policemen were injured some seriously. The second encounter between the police and al-Qaeda fighters took place in Mecca on April 21, 2005 in which 2 al-Qaeda soldiers and 2 policemen were killed. As per news, local residents say that in the Mecca battle, militants who were holed up on a hill in a low-income neighborhood fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at police. Security forces then called in helicopters that fired down on the militants. The third incident also took place on April 21, 2005, in Jeddah, which resulted in the arrests of two extremists. The news of these three bloody encounters between the police and al-Qaeda fighters in April 2005 tells us that all is not well in Saudi kingdom. Ironically, the official Wahhabi Doctrine that Saudi Royal family so passionately subscribe also gave birth to violent jihadi group such as al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden is a strict adherent to Wahhabi Doctrine, which calls its followers to return to Holy Scripture. The Saudi King and vanguards of the royal family never did think that the proverbial chicken would come home to roost. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |