Saudi Suspects Seeking To Revive al-Qaeda

Map of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has releassed a list of 83 wanted men who it beleives are seeking to revive al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The most dangerous man on the list is, 27-year-old Saudi, Saleh al-Qaraawi.

Saudi suspects appear to seeking to revive al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Documents profiling 85 wanted men (83 Saudis and two Yemenis) reveal that many of them either took part in planning attacks targeting oil, security and other installations in the kingdom or provided al-Qaeda members with weapons, safe haven, false documents and money.  

"One of the wanted men  is a 34-year-old son -in-law of Osama bin Laden. He is believed to hiding either in Pakistan, Afghanitan or Iran."The list was released in Riyadh on Feb 2. Saudis have sought Interpol's help in arresting the men.

One of them, Mohammed Aboul-Kheir, 34, is married to Osama bin Laden's daughter. He has links to Ramzi Binalshibh, one of five co-defendants facing war crimes charges in a 9/11 trial. Saudis believe that he may be in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran.

Another wanted person, a Yemeni, Qassem al-Reemi, 30, is involved in a plot to kill US envoy in San'a, the capital of Yemen.

The most dangerous man on the list is, however, Saleh al-Qaraawi, 27, a Saudi. He had provided money and recruits for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq and attempted to establish a terror cell in Saudi Arabia, the documents say. Abu Musab was killed in June 2006.   

Yemen's lawless hinterland gives these militants a place to hide, while keeping them close to the kingdom and their source of recruits, Saudi officials believe. The youngest in the ‘wanted list’, Abdul-Ilah al-Shihri, (16), was only nine when 9/11 happened.

Saudi Arabia has been carrying out an aggressive crackdown since 2003. In recent months, it has rounded up hundreds of members and sympathisers. "Yemen's lawless hinterland gives these militants a place to hide, while keeping them close to the kingdom and their source of recruits."       

Al-Qaeda has not carried out a major attack in the Kingdom since February 2006, when suicide bombers tried but failed to attack an oil facility at the Abqaiq oil complex, the world's largest oil processing facility, in eastern Saudi Arabia.