AFLAJ/WADI AL-DAWASIR: The grandfather of Muhammad Al-Baghdadi, the suspected Al-Qaeda member shot dead at a checkpoint south of Riyadh Friday, has condemned his grandson saying that he and his family “utterly reject and condemn his actions”. Tahir Al-Baghdadi, a real estate agent in Makkah, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the “concern and care of the Saudi government for my family has been incalculable”, and said that everyone in the family condemned outright Al-Baghdadi's actions that led to his death. Al-Baghdadi had been traveling by car dressed as a woman when he and his 17-year-old driver were stopped at a checkpoint in Wadi Al-Dawasir. He opened fire on officials and was killed in the subsequent exchange. The driver, who had claimed that his passenger was his mother, was apprehended. Al-Baghdadi's education went no further than secondary school and despite warnings from friends and family, became involved in “takfeeri” ideology. According to sources, he also spent time in prison. “Al-Baghdadi was imprisoned six years ago and released two years ago, and it became clear that he was not thinking right afterwards, even though he was helped by marrying an Egyptian woman living in Madina,” the sources said. The Ministry of Interior announced the militant's full name Monday as Muhammad Issam Tahir Al-Baghdadi. “He is a Saudi citizen who was wanted for his affiliation to the deviants and his involvement in criminal acts,” ministry spokesman Maj. Gen Mansour Al-Turki said. Al-Baghdadi had connections to the 113-member nationwide terrorist network whose break-up was announced by the Ministry of Interior last March. Haila Al-Qussayer, the woman who was arrested for alleged recruitment and financing of the so-called Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was part of the same network. Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs, praised the checkpoint officials for their actions in killing Al-Baghdadi and arresting his 17-year-old accomplice, with whom he had previously made a failed attempt to enter Yemeni territory and join up with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
