Not That This Isn't Good News, BUT

[Annie]

somehow I don't feel a whole lot safer. The Saudis are doing better on the WOT than just about any other country. Now they have just about knocked off over half the 'bad guys'. There's something about that last part though, that gives me pause:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...u=/ap/20040806/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saudi_terrorism

Saudis Arrest Most-Wanted Terror Suspect

1 hour, 1 minute ago


CAIRO, Egypt - Saudi police have arrested the kingdom's most wanted terror suspect, the official Saudi Press Agency said Friday.

Police captured Faris Ahmed Jamaan Al Showeel al-Zahrani with another person on Thursday night, an unidentified Interior Ministry official told the agency. The other suspect's name was not released.

The Interior Ministry official described al-Zahrani, a cleric, as "a preacher of denouncing people as infidels." Islamic militants often label their enemies as infidels before they attack them.

The official did not describe the arrest, but said al-Zahrani and his accomplice were detained "swiftly and efficiently," and were not able to use the weapons they were carrying.

"The Interior Ministry wishes to emphasize to all people that the security forces are determined to pursue the terrorists, get them out of their holes, and apply God's law to them," the official added.

The arrest had been reported without sources on the pan-Arab TV channel Al-Arabiya late Thursday. The Saudi-owned station had said al-Zahrani was detained in Abha, a town 500 miles southwest of Riyadh.

Al-Zahrani was No. 12 on the kingdom's list of 26 most-wanted terror suspects. All those ahead of him, and several others on the list, have been either killed or captured. Saudi authorities released the list following a series of bombings in Riyadh on May 12, 2003, that killed 26 people. On Nov. 8, another suicide attack on a Riyadh housing compound killed 17 people.

In an indication of al-Zahrani's importance, sympathetic messages began appearing on Islamic Web sites expressing regret and asking God to give him strength.

"God strengthen Faris al-Zahrani's heart. Make him calm and support him," said a site contributor writing under the name "Ishraqet Amal" or Dawn of Hope. "As he championed righteousness and waged holy war for your sake, God, support him and don't let the infidels get to him (psychologically)."

A contributor who used the name Abu Asli said of the arrest: "I pray to God that this news is false.