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REUTERS - Al Qaeda Says Kidnapped American in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH (Reuters) - Al Qaeda militants said on Sunday they had kidnapped a U.S. engineer in Saudi Arabia to "avenge U.S. mistreatment of prisoners" in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, according to an Islamist Web site.
In a statement posted on Sawt al Jihad Islamist Web site, they identified the American as Paul Marshal Johnson from New Jersey, born on May 8, 1955, and a specialist in Apache helicopters. They said he was kidnapped on Saturday.
Originally posted by Hoaks
REUTERS - Al Qaeda Says Kidnapped American in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH (Reuters) - Al Qaeda militants said on Sunday they had kidnapped a U.S. engineer in Saudi Arabia to "avenge U.S. mistreatment of prisoners" in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, according to an Islamist Web site.
Associated Press / MSNBC - American killed, one missing in Saudi Arabia
The al-Qaida statement, posted late Saturday on an Islamic Web site, showed a passport-size photo of a brown-haired man and a business card with the man's name on it..
The statement said the terrorist group would deal with the hostage just as �the Americans dealt with our brothers in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib� � a reference to sexual and other alleged abuses of Iraqi and Muslim prisoners by U.S. troops.
The statement said Johnson is one of four experts in Saudi Arabia working on developing Apache helicopter systems and that the American killed worked in the same industry.
�Everybody knows that these helicopters are used by the Americans, their Zionist allies and the apostates to kill Muslims, terrorizing them and displacing them in Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq,� the statement said.
�The mujaheddin also managed to kill another American who is working as a manager in the same military sector where the hostage was working. The mujaheddin monitored him and killed him in his house.�
The statement was signed by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the same group that claimed responsibility for a shooting and hostage-taking spree in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar on May 29-30, killing 22 people.
It said it would release a video tape later to list its demands and show Johnson�s confessions.
REUTERS - Al Qaeda Says Kidnapped American in Saudi Arabia (updated)
In its statement, the group displayed a copy of the passport of the American it snatched, his Saudi driving license as well as his business card which showed he worked for Lockheed Martin as a systems engineer and site manager.
"The Mujahidoun in the Arab Peninsula reserve the legitimate right to deal with the Americans in the same way to avenge what the Americans did to our brothers in Abu Ghraib prison (in Iraq) and Guantanamo," the statement said in reference to images of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners.
The group that signed the statement is led by Abdulaziz al- Muqrin, al Qaeda's top leader in Saudi Arabia. Muqrin has vowed to make 2004 "a miserable and bloody year" for Saudi Arabia.
"God willing we will publish a taped statement by the kidnapped in which he will make his confessions and his personal demands and we will clarify the Mujahidoun demands," the statement said
12 June 2004 - Al Qaeda video shows assassination of American Robert Jacob in Riyadh
In yet another chillingly graphic video obtained by the Northeast Intelligence Network, Al Qaeda shows the assassination of another American citizen at the hands of Islamic militants.
The video, released earlier this afternoon, purports to be from Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula, the division of Al Qaeda headed by Abu Hagar Al Moqrin. (More details on Moqrin can be found further down this page.)
According to a notice on the website announcing the release of the video, the video shows "the murder of the American Jew, Robert Jacob, who was an employee Vinnell spy agency."
abcnews.go.com...
Al Qaeda said on Sunday it killed one American and kidnapped another in Saudi Arabia to "avenge U.S. mistreatment" of Muslim prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, according to an Islamist Web Site
The site also posted a video it said showed the killing of another American in the capital Riyadh earlier in the week.
A string of attacks on Westerners has raised security fears in the world's top oil exporter. Witnesses said the American was shot on Saturday as he parked his car in front of his villa in a Riyadh suburb.
The "al Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula" said in a statement on the Sawt al Jihad Islamist Web Site that the man kidnapped at the same time was Paul Marshal Johnson, a 49-year-old New Jersey engineer specializing in Apache helicopters whom it branded "an American Christian parasite."
"The Mujahidoun were able in the same operation to kill another American working as a manager in the military sector. They stalked him and then they killed him in his home," it said.
It said it would soon release a video of the captive, whose business card showed he worked for Lockheed Martin as a site manager and systems engineer.
"(We) reserve the legitimate right to deal with the Americans in the same way to avenge what the Americans did to our brothers in (Baghdad's) Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo," it said.
The U.S. embassy confirmed one American was shot dead in Riyadh on Saturday and that another was missing.
"We are working with local authorities to find him," a spokeswoman said.
Police also found a car rigged with explosives in a suburb near foreigners' housing, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said, but it was unclear if the incidents were linked. Saturday's attack was the third on Westerners in Saudi Arabia in a week and came just two weeks after suspected al Qaeda militants killed 22 civilians in a shooting and hostage-taking spree in the oil city of Khobar.
DEATH VIDEO
On Tuesday Robert Jacobs was killed by gunmen, and the American's death was purportedly shown in the online video.
It showed a man, whose face cannot be seen but who appeared to be a Westerner, fall to the ground in front of a garage as two men holding guns run toward him. The accompanying statement was also in the name of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Jacobs worked for U.S. defense contracting firm Vinnell, a unit of Northrop Grumman Corp which trains the Saudi National Guard, an elite force protecting the pro-U.S. monarchy.
Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia -- Osama bin Laden's native land -- is led by Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, who has vowed to make 2004 "a miserable and bloody year" for the ruling family and to drive out foreigners from the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam.
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Please click the link at the top of this quote for the full report.