The suspected Saudi frontman of the Al-Qaeda network in Saudi Arabia, Yunis Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hayari of Morocco, was killed in a shootout with security forces in Riyadh Sunday, the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel reported.
"The chief of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Yunis al-Hayari, was killed in a shootout in the Riyadh eastern neighbourhood of Rawda," the satellite channel reported. Two other wanted men were injured in the overnight clash, it added.
Hayari topped a list of 36 wanted men issued by the Saudi interior ministry last week. The Moroccan had reportedly had "extensive contact with al-Qaeda and handles the financial and organisational matters in the kingdom."
Al-Hayari had more experience of fighting than the younger Saudi members of the network, having fought in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Saudisource said. The Moroccan was said to have entered Saudi Arabia in 2001 on a Bosnian passport.
