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A three-day gunbattle in early April between Saudi security forces and al Qaeda militants in the small central Saudi town of Al Ras left eight militants dead, including Abdel Karim al-Majati, an internationally wanted fugitive from Morocco. Al-Majati was one of many mid-level al Qaeda operatives assigned to organize cells throughout the world -- with the goal of conducting attacks. Although the global war on terrorism has made such operatives vulnerable to exposure and interdiction, it is possible that some remain at large.
Al-Majati belonged to a network of graduates of al Qaeda training camps that operated in Afghanistan before the October 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Graduates of these camps spread throughout the world, acting as "sleeper cells" in Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States.
Sources within radical Islamist circles in Saudi Arabia say a great many of the 40,000 or so people who trained at the Afghan camps from 1996 to 2001 did not formally pledge allegiance to Osama bin Laden or become part of the al Qaeda organization. The graduates, however, did become part of the wider jihadist movement, returning to their home countries or going elsewhere to carry out independent jihadist activities.
Al-Majati fit the profile of a successful al Qaeda militant: French-educated, cosmopolitan and linguistically proficient, he moved easily between Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. By some accounts, al-Majati spoke better French than Arabic. Saudi authorities, who considered him a significant al Qaeda member, believe he set up cells in Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Spain.
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