Mansour Al-Shihri
Okaz/Saudi Gazette
RIYADH — A leading Saudi terrorist was wanted for planning to carry out terrorist operations in the UAE similar to the 9/11 attacks in New York in addition to a series of explosions in the Kingdom and other countries before he was received by Saudi authorities almost three years ago, an Okaz/Saudi Gazette investigation has found.
Saleh Al-Qarawie, 33, was on the Interior Ministry's list of the 85 most wanted terrorists. He was received by the Saudi authorities from Pakistan.
In 2004, Qarawie established what was called the “Abdullah Azzam Militants”, a faction of Al-Qaeda.
He was stationed in Iran from where he planned all his criminal acts.
In 2011, the US has placed him on the list of international terrorists.
According to confirmed data, Al-Qarawie was linked to a number of planned terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, Britain and some GCC countries.
He lived in Iran with other Arab and Saudi terrorists. From Iran, he moved to Afghanistan and other areas.
Al-Qaeda abandoned Al-Qarawie after he was seriously injured in an explosion along the borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He lost both his legs, his right arm and right eye in the explosion.
Four of the top Saudi hospitals performed cornea transplants and a number of plastic surgeries on him at the Kingdom’s expense.
While in Iran, Al-Qarawie asked a number of Saudis for money to finance his terrorist operations.
He also maintained correspondence with some of his supporters in the Kingdom asking them to supply him with money and fighters.
He had letters of recognition from Osama Bin Laden and Mustapha Al-Yazeed, the third in command at Al-Qaeda.
Al-Qarawie made connections with a number of Kurds who were members of Al-Qaeda and trained him on the use of advanced technology.
He also maintained close ties with a Syrian terrorist named Zainul Abideen to coordinate the kidnapping of some foreigners in the Kingdom.
In 2007, he planned terrorist actions in Jordan with a Jordanian terrorist named Firas to explode a building housing a number of Americans in Amman but the operation failed because his plans were discovered.
While in Iran he also came to know a Jordanian man named Mohammed Al-Hakaymah, nicknamed Abu Jihad Al-Masri, who was in charge of Al-Qaeda security.
They became so close that Al-Qarawie married his daughter.
He also coordinated a number of terrorist operations in Lebanon and attacked a Japanese oil tanker in the Arabian Gulf in 2010.
He became acquainted with an Iraqi Kurd named Tahseen Al-Kurdi and with him planned an attack on American facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
The two planned a 9/11 style attack against the US Embassy in the UAE.
They thought of using a drone in the attack or a small training aircraft to be piloted by a kamikaze pilot but the plot was discovered and foiled.
Al-Kurdi tried to convince his own brother, who at the time was coming to the Kingdom to perform Haj, to smuggle some drugs so he could use the proceeds to finance their terrorist attacks but his attempt failed.
Al-Qarawie and Al-Kurdi also tried to explode a passenger aircraft in Dubai airport and another in Heathrow but the British government discovered their plots and foiled them.
Al-Qarawie is an expert in making explosives and was known by a number of nicknames including Abu Abdullah, Sami, Najm, Nahrouz and others.
He left for Syria through Turkey in 2004 but was imprisoned in Syria and deported to the Kingdom where he was jailed for a month.
When he was released, he used a forged passport to travel to Bahrain, then to the UAE and finally to Iran.
When he was hurt in the explosion and Al-Qaeda denounced him, he contacted his family in the Kingdom expressing his wish to give himself in to the Saudi authorities, which sent a medical evacuation aircraft in June 2012 that brought him and his family to the Kingdom where he was treated.
