Khobar Towers bomber nabbed after 20 years on the run

(Before It's News)

DEBKAfile was founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service. August 26, 2015, 12:10 PM (IDT)

Ahmed al-Mughassi, leader of the Hizballah al-Hejaz, sought for 20 years for the 1996 Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 US service personnel and wounded 500 people, has been captured in Beirut and transferred to Riyadh, Saudi sources report. In 2006, a US Federal judge ordered Iran to pay $254 million to the victims’ families. A 209-page ruling found the truck bomb was assembled at a base in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, operated by Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards, and approved by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran denied culpability and never responded to the ruling. Khobar Towers housed a US base that secured Saudi oilfields.

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