RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A confidant of Osama bin Laden surrendered to Saudi diplomats in Iran and was flown to the kingdom yesterday, a potentially valuable asset in the war on terror because of his closeness to the fugitive al Qaeda chief.
Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby was shown on Saudi TV being pushed in a wheelchair through the Riyadh airport. He is the most important figure to surface under a Saudi amnesty promising to spare the lives of militants who turn themselves in.
“Thank God, thank God … I called the embassy and we were very well received,” al-Harby told Saudi TV in the airport terminal. “I have come obeying God, and obeying the [kingdom’s] rulers.”
Al-Harby — also known as Abu Suleiman al-Makky — is considered a sounding board for the al Qaeda leader rather than an operational planner for his terror network, a U.S. counterterrorism official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Another U.S. official said al-Harby was not a senior member of al Qaeda. The official, who declined to be identified, called him “an aging mujahideen.”
The Interior Ministry did not say what al-Harby is wanted for, but a Saudi security official said he is a member of al Qaeda.
Mansour al-Nogaidan, a Riyadh journalist and former militant, said al-Harby appeared on a videotape released in November 2001 in which bin Laden described the planning of the September 11 attacks. He said al-Harby was disabled in both legs while fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry said al-Harby contacted the Saudi Embassy in Tehran from the Iranian-Afghan border, where he was stranded. It was not disclosed what al-Harby was wanted for, and his name does not appear on the kingdom’s list of 26 most-wanted militants.
Wearing traditional white robes and Arab headdress, al-Harby was carried off the plane before being put in a wheelchair. He was accompanied by his wife, dressed all in black, and their son, a Saudi security official said.
Al-Harby is the third man to take advantage of the monthlong amnesty that King Fahd offered militants on June 23. One of the other militants who surrendered under the amnesty is Othman Hadi Al Maqboul al-Amri, No. 21 on Saudi Arabia’s most-wanted list.
Separately, Interior Minister Prince Nayef acknowledged for the first time that Saudis had infiltrated neighboring Iraq to join the insurgency against U.S.-led forces.
“Surely, there are Saudis,” Prince Nayef told reporters late Monday of the foreign fighters detained in Iraq. “But the number, and how [they got into Iraq] is not available to us now.”
His statement came after repeated denials of Iraqi reports that Saudis are fighting in the insurgency.
Iraq’s human rights minister, Bakhtiyar Amin, said Monday there were 14 Saudis among 99 foreign fighters in detention. Also, Saudi newspapers have published obituaries and funeral reports for at least four Saudis said to have died fighting in Iraq.
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