7, April 2005	Thursday	27 Safar 1426

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militant killed in Riyadh

By Our Correspondent

RIYADH, April 6: Saudi security forces killed another wanted militant, Abdulrahman al-Yazji, in the industrial area here on Wednesday. An announcement by the Saudi interior ministry, confirming the death, said: “On arrival of security forces at the site, Yazji tried to shot at them and use a hand grenade. Subsequently, he was shot dead whereas his associate received injuries and was caught.” The unidentified man wounded alongside Yazji was in a hospital in serious condition.

Yazji was one of the four remaining fugitives on Saudi Arabia’s list of 26 top militant suspects.

The Riyadh raid followed three days of fighting north of the capital in which forces killed at least 14 gunmen, including a senior Al Qaeda suspect, Abdul Kareem Al-Majat, thought to have masterminded bombings in Casablanca in May 2003.

Saudi sources said he was also wanted in connection with the Madrid bombing.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Al Qaeda chief in the kingdom Saleh Al-Oufi was also among those killed during the Al-Ras siege which ended on Tuesday evening.

The chief of the Al-Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia, Saleh Al-Oufi, was also reported to be among 14 wanted militants killed in three days of fierce clashes, the exiled Islamic opposition said.

Al-Oufi, a former police officer who was number four on Riyadh’s most-wanted list, took over as Al-Qaeda commander in Saudi Arabia in June last year.

One of the dead, who had an amputated leg, was found in a wheelchair,” the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia said in a statement posted on internet.

According to information available to the security services, it is Al-Oufi. But the body has been burnt and it is not possible to be certain of his identity before a DNA analysis.

Al-Oufi, who had previously been reported dead, recently resurfaced in a recordings attributed to him on an Islamist website, voicing support for the network’s Iraqi branch and calling for attacks on “crusader” targets in the region.

Several Saudi newspapers have been speculating over the last few days that Al-Oufi was among the militants holed up inside a building in Al-Ras.

However, there has not been an independent confirmation as yet.