JEDDAH, 28 August 2005 — The US military in Iraq yesterday said that a Saudi man who supplied and coordinated suicide bombers in Iraq had been shot dead along with another unidentified “terrorist” in the northern city of Mosul.
“Coalition forces killed Abu Khaled, a major facilitator of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in northern Iraq, during operations in Mosul” on Thursday, the US military said in a statement.
Arab News contacted Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, official spokesmen of the Interior Ministry, who said there was nothing official out yet regarding this particular case and that the ministry was looking into the matter.
About the name “Abu Khaled”, Al-Turki said terrorists often give themselves such names and they are not their real names. He said he would give further information today.
The US military said tips from local residents and intelligence sources led the forces to a location in Mosul, 370 km north of Baghdad, where Khaled was located.
“Upon arrival at the location, the forces stopped his vehicle, a gunfight immediately ensued and Khaled and an unidentified terrorist were shot and killed,” the military added.
It said some detainees had alleged that Khaled had contacted his accomplices in Saudi Arabia to coordinate the movement of foreign fighters and suicide bombers into northern Iraq.
“Once in Mosul, he allegedly directed the distribution of foreign fighters and suicide bombers to the various terrorist cells operating in Mosul,” the military added.
“According to detainee reports, Khaled supplied them with money, weapons and bombmaking materials. Detainees further stated these resources were from donations from the same Saudi contacts who recruited and sent the foreign fighters to Mosul,” the US military said.
On Friday US forces launched multiple airstrikes against a suspected hide-out of the Al-Qaeda terror network in Iraq’s restive western province of Al-Anbar, close to the Syrian border. Around 50 militants associated with Al-Qaeda front man in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, were in a safe house in the border town of Husaybah at the time of the airstrikes, the military said.
Casualty figures were not immediately available.
— Additional input from agencies
