Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- New information has been obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat concerning the vehicle used by elements of Al-Qaeda organization that infiltrated the Kingdom from Yemen to carry out a terrorist operation inside Saudi territories.
The vehicle in question was a black GMC truck, which according to Confirmed information was driven by Youssef al-Shihri and Raid al-Harbi who were killed in a shoot out in the Jizan region (south Saudi Arabia). The truck was rented by a member of Al-Qaeda organization from the coastal city of Jeddah (west of the country) who was not one of the suspects.
The individual who rented the truck used in the security clash that resulted in the death of the two wanted Al-Qaeda members, drove the truck from Jeddah to the southern region, traveling a distance of over 700 km to reach it.
According to sources which spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, the truck driver was able to travel the long distance without being detected because he was not a suspect and there were no question marks about him which would have indicated in one way or other that he had joined Al-Qaeda organization. But according to the same sources, this does not minimize the GMC driver’s role in this operation as he is considered a participating member in the Jizan operation in which one security officer was killed when he was shot by Al-Shihri and his colleague Al-Harbi both of whom were killed in the operation.
Several Saudi towns and provinces lie between Jeddah and the Al-Darb area, the northern entrance to Jizan region where the incident took place, and the most important of these are Al-Qanfadhah, Al-Layth, the only sea outlet for the Asir region (Al-Haridah), and Al-Shaqiq which has desalination plants and then Jizan.
Jizan has common maritime and land borders with Yemen and Al-Shihri and Al-Harbi probably infiltrated from Al-Khawbah, the administrative capital of Al-Harth District that is close to the town of Al-Malahiz which is the scene of the military operations against the Huthist insurgents.
Jizan has a 30-mile long maritime border with Yemen and hundreds of rugged mountains and they are separated by the Tuhamah area, the only level part of the common borders between Saudi Arabia and Yemen which it is difficult to infiltrate because of the many security precautions, such as the common maritime borders that are also difficult to infiltrate. Therefore, Al-Harth, which is close to the current security tension in Yemen, remains the most likely area used by Al-Shihri and Al-Harbi to enter from Yemen which is 190 km from Al-Darb area where the operation took place. This means that the two terrorists infiltrated through six provinces to reach Al-Hamra point which is known for its stringent search roadblocks and this prompted the two terrorists to wear women’s clothes hoping to pass through this roadblock but this did not prevent them from meeting their death there.