Saudi Builds a Reputation as Leader of Terror Cell
Veteran of Afghan Camps Seen Behind Attacks on Westerners. The man wears a black hood on the videotape as he grips an AK-47 and threatens to execute an American hostage. In spite of the disguise, a subtitle gives a name for the speaker, Abdulaziz Muqrin, who Saudi authorities say is the chief organizer of the recent attacks on Westerners in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi native believed to be in his early thirties, Muqrin is a graduate of jihadi training camps in Afghanistan and a veteran of conflicts in Somalia and Bosnia, as well as Algeria, where he was part of a group known for dismembering the bodies of its enemies on videotape, according to Saudi officials and terrorism analysts. Even so, he was a relatively unknown Islamic radical until last November, when a small cell loyal to him carried out a suicide bombing at a residential compound in Riyadh that housed mostly Westerners, killing 17 people and injuring 122. The attack landed Muqrin on a most-wanted list of 26 terrorist leaders named by the Saudi government. Full Story