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(CNN) -- Al Qaeda militants kept a pledge to kill their American hostage, posting three chilling photographs Friday on an Islamist Web site to prove they had beheaded Paul Johnson Jr.
The Lockheed Martin Corp. employee was kidnapped in Riyadh last Saturday. Sources in Riyadh said Johnson's body was found in the eastern part of the city; official statements are expected soon.
U.S. officials confirmed Johnson's death, saying the remains shown on the al Qaeda-linked Web site are "definitely" his. An official said a photograph that shows a severed head sitting on the back of a headless body is "very clear."
Abdel Aziz Al-Muqrin, the self-proclaimed military leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, had threatened Tuesday to kill Johnson in 72 hours unless the Saudi government released al Qaeda prisoners and Westerners left the Arabian Peninsula.
"As we promised, we the mujahedeen from the Falluja Squadron slaughtered the American hostage Paul Johnson after the deadline we gave to the Saudi tyrants," said a statement on the Web site that has been translated from the Arabic.
"So he got his fair share from this life and for him to taste a bit of what the Muslims have been suffering from Apache helicopter attacks. They were tortured by its missiles."
The photographs on the Web site plainly show the face of Johnson, the man seen in videotapes with his captors earlier this week.
Johnson, 49, worked on Apache helicopters in Saudi Arabia and had lived there for more than a decade.
Three suspected militants were shot to death by Saudi security forces later Friday in Riyadh, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television announced.
The FBI stands ready to help Saudi Arabia track down Johnson's killers, a bureau official said Friday.
"We are in close coordination with Saudi Arabia to determine what can be done to assist the Saudi authorities in this case now. But of course it is a sovereign country so it depends on what the Saudi government decides," the official said.
President Bush offered his sympathies to Johnson's family.
"The murder of Paul shows the true nature of the enemy we face," the president said, adding that there was no justification for the killing.
"We must pursue these people and bring them to justice before they hurt other Americans," the president said. "They are trying to get us to retreat. We will not be intimidated."
'Exceeds all boundaries of a civilized people'
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell condemned what he called an "action of barbarism."
"It shows once again what the world is dealing with -- to behead somebody or murder somebody, somebody innocent who was only trying to help," he said. "It will cause us and the Saudis to redouble our efforts to go after the terrorists wherever they are, wherever they hide."
Carol Kalin, the media attach� to the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, said the embassy and the American community in Saudi Arabia felt "a tremendous sadness at Paul's death."
"It exceeds all boundaries of a civilized people," she said.
"What can I do for him?" said Noom, a native of Thailand. "I want to see him come back to see me. He don't do anything wrong, he nice with the people. I never see him have problem in the 10 year here. Never."
Kalin said the embassy is "strongly urging Americans to depart" Saudi Arabia and urging "those Americans who do choose to remain to exercise the utmost caution."
"It's tough times out here," she said.
Al-Muqrin had claimed responsibility for Johnson's kidnapping and the death of another American, Kenneth Scroggs, on Saturday on behalf of a group called the Falluja Squadron, which claims to have ties to al Qaeda.
A senior U.S. State Department official in Washington told CNN the United States will now act to "batten down the hatch and [not] give them an easy target."
"We want Americans to leave. We want the people that are there to take appropriate precautions," the official said.
The official added that Johnson lived away from the heavily fortified expatriate compounds and "was a sitting duck."
The al Qaeda Web statement also said the killing was "a lesson for them to learn for whoever comes to our country, this will be their punishment."
Muslim friends of Johnson -- including some clerics -- also pleaded for his release. But the militants were not swayed.
Lockheed Martin spokesman Tom Jurkowsky said the company is "dealing with the family."
"All we can say is we're very distressed, very disheartened," Jurkowsky said.
The Web statement addressed those pleas.
"A lot of voices were very loud, expressing their anger for taking a Christian military person as a hostage and killing him while they kept their mouth shut from saying anything supporting those poor Muslims who are in prisons and being tortured by the hands of the cross-believers," the Web site statement said, an apparent reference to the abuse of Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib prison.
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2004-06-18, 05:03 PM
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