RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 26 (UPI) — The accused ringleader of a 1996 bombing which killed 19 U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia is in the hands of Saudi authorities.
Ahmed al-Mughassil was captured in Beirut, where he had been living under the protection of Hezbollah, the Iranian-back militant group, and transferred to Riyadh by Saudi authorities, the Saudi-owned newspaper Ashraq al-Aswat reported Wednesday. A senior U.S. official in Washington confirmed Mughassil is no longer at large, although he indicated U.S. officials are awaiting more information from Saudi officials.
Mughassil, 48, was indicted for the attack by a U.S. federal court in 2001. The indictment said he recruited 12 other people to join the group believed to be responsible for the attack on a building in Saudi Arabia known as the Khobar Towers, near the Saudi city of Dhahran, which housed U.S. military personnel. Hundreds were injured in the blast. The indictment states a tanker truck, loaded with plastic explosives, exploded after it arrived in a parking lot at the housing complex.
The U.S. government offered a $5 million reward to information leading to the arrest of Mughassil, who it has long regarded as a leader in the Saudi branch of Hezbollah.
