Little Wing

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (July 22) -- Saudi security forces found the head of American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr. in a freezer during a raid on a suspected al-Qaida hideout that came days before the expiration of a monthlong amnesty offered to militants, officials said Wednesday.

The raid targeted the hideout of the Saudi al-Qaida chief and killed two other militants, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. It was not clear whether Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, the man believed to be the top al-Qaida leader in the kingdom, was among three militants reported wounded. Three Saudi security officers also were wounded in the gunbattle Tuesday night.

Security forces also seized weapons - including an anti-aircraft SAM-7 missile - explosives, chemicals, video cameras and cash from the al-Qaida house.

''Saudi authorities are pursuing every lead in their terror investigations,'' Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, said in a statement. ''They are absolutely determined to bring these murderers to justice and end the threat to the peaceful citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia.''

Johnson, a 49-year-old engineer with Apache helicopter maker Lockheed Martin, was kidnapped and beheaded by militants in Saudi Arabia last month. Only his head was found, the Interior Ministry said, and a search continued for the rest of his body.

Video from Saudi TV of the site of the raid in the King Fahd neighborhood of Riyadh showed the hulks of several burned out cars, a gutted pickup truck, another car with a shattered windshield and bullet holes. The footage also showed bloodstained and bullet-pocked walls, a bloodied blanket and a white robe, torn and pink with blood.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin said Saudi authorities had informed the embassy of the head's discovery, and consular officials in Washington were in the process of notifying Johnson's family.




Johnson's son, Paul. M. Johnson III, reached by telephone in Washington by The Associated Press, said he has received no official confirmation of the identification. He had flown to Washington for a news conference with Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., at which they planned to press the Saudi Embassy for information about the search for the body.

An official at the Interior Ministry said authorities were holding the wife and three children of al-Aoofi, the purported al-Qaida chief in Saudi Arabia, after the raid in the Saudi capital.

The statement from the Saudi Embassy in Washington said security forces were investigating a residence in the capital's King Fahd district when they were attacked with various weapons, including hand and rocket-propelled grenades.

They returned fire, killing two suspected militants, Issa Saad Mohammed bin Oushan, who was on Saudi Arabia's most-wanted list, and Mujab Abu-Ras Al-Dossary, the statement said.

Johnson was kidnapped June 12 by militants in Riyadh who followed through on a threat to kill him if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners. An al-Qaida group claiming responsibility posted an Internet message that showed grisly photographs of a beheaded body on June 17. Later, video of the beheading was posted.


Hours after the first pictures of the beheading appeared on the Internet, Saudi security forces shot and killed Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, alleged mastermind of Johnson's kidnapping and beheading. Al-Aoofi was believed to have succeeded al-Moqrin.

Last week, U.S. authorities announced they had called off the search for the body of Johnson, who had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade. He grew up in Eagleswood Township, N.J.

Under the amnesty, which expires Friday, the government pledged not to seek the death penalty against militants who surrender. The offer has failed to attract hard-core militants, but experts say some who have come forward could provide valuable information. Four wanted men have surrendered, including a confidant of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, and 27 others have been repatriated from a number of countries.

Alex Standish, editor of Jane's Intelligence Digest in London, said the surrenders won't have ''an enormous impact.''

''The key militants, the senior members of al-Qaida and the people who are active outside the kingdom, these are people who are not likely to be taken in by any amnesty at all,'' said Standish. ''If you surrender to an amnesty what you're really saying is that the struggle was for nothing.''

In the past year, Saudi Arabia has been rocked by suicide bombings, gunbattles and kidnappings targeting foreign workers. The attacks have been blamed on al-Qaida and sympathizers of bin Laden's terror network. Al-Qaida wants to topple the Saudi royal family and replace it with its own Islamic government.

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Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando, Fla., contributed to this report.

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Big Smoothy

It doesn't surprise me that these Allah-freaks from the armpit of the world who pull a Jeffrey Dahmer.