Four Al Qaeda ‘Big Fish’ Killed in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi government reports that they have killed 15 al Qaeda terrorists, including four “big fish.”

Saudi: Al Qaeda ‘big fish’ killed (CNN)

Several al Qaeda “big fish” were among the 15 terrorists killed and seven captured in a series of gun battles and raids in and near Riyadh since Sunday, Saudi security officials say. Sources in the Saudi government have said four of those killed or caught were on the list of 26 most-wanted terrorists, leaving just two of those on the list still at large.

The Saudi Interior Ministry is expected to announce DNA test results Wednesday afternoon to confirm the identities of the suspected al Qaeda militants killed and captured during a three-day stand-off and gun battle northwest of Riyadh and another gun battle Wednesday morning in an industrial area in southern Riyadh.

Several Saudi sources told CNN that Abdul-Rahman Mohammed Mohammed Yazji, one of the 26 most-wanted, was killed in the Wednesday morning gun battle. The sources would not confirm or deny reports that Saleh Oufi, head of al Qaeda in the Arab peninsula, was seriously wounded and captured in that battle. He is also on the list of 26.
Investigators were also trying to determine whether two senior al Qaeda figures — the suspected leader of the Islamic terror group in Saudi Arabia and a man linked to the March 2004 Madrid train bombings — were among 14 militants killed in a battle that began Sunday and ended Tuesday, said Brig. Mansour Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman. Five militants were wounded and captured, and one surrendered, he said. “We managed to capture really important fish,” a senior Interior Ministry official told CNN.

Good news.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.