Are the Saudis finally getting serious about combatting terrorism? The jury is still out. But this doesn’t bode well, although it’s not in the least surprising. From AP, with thanks to DC Watson:
CAIRO, Egypt — The al-Qaida cell that kidnapped and killed American Paul M. Johnson Jr. said in an online periodical Sunday that sympathizers in the kingdom’s security forces supplied it with police uniforms and vehicles and set up fake checkpoints to facilitate last week’s abduction.
The details of the kidnapping appeared in Sawt al-Jihad, or Voice of Holy War, a semimonthly online periodical published by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. A separate article, the final one written by cell leader Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, killed in a shootout Friday night, justified Johnson’s slaying.
The first article said militants wearing police uniforms and using police cars set up a fake checkpoint on al-Khadma Road, leading the airport, near Imam Mohammed bin Saud University.
When Johnson’s car approached the checkpoint June 12, the militants in police uniforms stopped his car – a Camry – detained him, anesthetized him and carried him to another car, the article said.
It said they then blew up Johnson’s car.