Saudi Arabia Al-Qaeda Head Killed

Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, head of al Qaeda’s Saudi Arabia operation, was killed by Saudi police today.

al-Qaida Leader in Saudi Arabia Killed (AP)

Police raids touched off fierce gunbattles Thursday that killed six Islamic extremists, and authorities said the dead included al-Qaida’s leader in Saudi Arabia, whose hideout was found to hold the head of a murdered American last summer. Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, the kingdom’s top fugitive, had led local al-Qaida operations since his predecessor was killed by police a year ago during a crackdown on religious militants in the homeland of Osama bin Laden and most of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers.

Al-Aoofi was believed involved in the June 2004 kidnapping and beheading of engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., whose body was shown in photos on the Internet. A few weeks after the slaying, police found Johnson’s head in a freezer at an apartment that had been used by al-Aoofi.

The former Saudi prison guard was one of only two people still at large from a list of 26 most-wanted militants that was issued in December 2003. The remaining militant is another Saudi, Talib Saud Abdullah al-Talib. The others have either been captured or killed.

One suspects a lot more terrorists will have to be killed before al Qaeda’s operations in the Kingdom will abate. Still, any progress is welcome news.

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