SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia's security forces killed a most-wanted al-Qaeda leader in a clash in the capital Riyadh yesterday, the interior ministry said.
Moroccan national Younis Mohammad Ibrahim al-Hayyari, accused of involvement in a series of recent attacks in the world's biggest oil exporter, died after exchanging fire and hurling hand grenades at police, it said.
Hayyari's name was at the top of a list of 36 al-Qaeda suspects announced by Riyadh last week. The ministry said he had helped prepare explosives and had played a part in several attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia.
"He was recently nominated by his colleagues to be the leader of strife and corruption in the land, after the death of his predecessors," the statement said.
Saudi Arabia has been battling suspected al-Qaeda militants since May 2003, when they launched their campaign of violence with triple suicide bombings at expatriate housing compounds in Riyadh.
Interior minister Prince Nayef said the operation was the result of extensive surveillance by Saudi security forces, and pledged to pursue other suspected militants.
"What happened today was the result of the effort of the previous period and God willing, we will reach the rest using the same method," he told journalists after visiting wounded security forces in hospital.
Al-Qaeda is fighting to expel non-Muslims from the Gulf state, which is home to Islam's two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, and topple its pro-Western absolute monarchy.
The attacks have killed 91 foreigners and Saudi civilians and wounded 510 people, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to London and former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal said last week.
Forty-one security force members have been killed and 218 wounded, while 112 militants have been killed and 25 wounded, he added. He estimated material losses at 1 billion riyals (€223 million).
There have been fewer attacks this year, but last month attackers gunned down a senior security officer in Mecca and diplomats say three helicopters were set on fire at a military base north of Riyadh.
Successive leaders of the Saudi wing of al-Qaeda have been killed since 2003 and Saudi officials say their replacements are increasingly inexperienced. But Western counter-terrorism experts say al-Qaeda has shown a resilience and ability to regenerate.
One other man was arrested at the scene of yesterday's clash and two others surrendered in a simultaneous police raid in the same district of eastern Riyadh. Six policemen were lightly wounded, the ministry said.