Nasser, Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed al

On June 21, 2001, Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed al Nasser (birth date unknown) was indicted in [Page 418]the United States for his role in coordinating the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers, a high-rise U.S. military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The FBI lists Nasser as one of its “most wanted terrorists.”

The indictment asserts that Nasser, who was born in Al Ihsa, Saudi Arabia, was the head of Saudi Hezbollah in the 1990s. That group is largely made up of young Shiite Muslim men who are loyal to Iran, not the Saudi government. Saudi Hezbollah, also called Hezbollah al Hijaz, is outlawed in Saudi Arabia, forcing Nasser to meet other organization leaders in Lebanon, Syria, or Iran.

Saudi Hezbollah operatives frequently gathered at the Sayeda Zeinab shrine in Damascus, Syria, an important religious site for Shiite Muslims. The site was also a prime recruiting place for Saudi Hezbollah, and its operatives often approached men there on religious pilgrimages.

According to the indictment, Nasser's military operations chief, Ahmad Ibrahim al Mughassil, planned and carried out much of the attack on the Khobar Towers in an attempt to force the U.S. military from Saudi Arabia. Weeks before the attack, Nasser led a meeting at the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine to discuss the final plans for the truck bomb assault. On the evening of June 25, 1996, Mughassil and fellow a Saudi Hezbollah member, Ali Saed bin Ali el Hoorie, drove a truck carrying more than 5,000 pounds of explosives to the Khobar Towers; they parked the truck and quickly drove off in a waiting getaway car. Minutes later, the truck exploded, killing 19 U.S. service members and wounding another 500 people.

Eleven of the 14 men charged with the bombing are in Saudi custody. Saudi Arabia has challenged U.S. jurisdiction because the attack was on Saudi soil and was committed largely by Saudi citizens. The Saudi government has declared that it will not extradite these men.

Three other men indicted in the Khobar case, Ahmed al Mughassil, Ali el Hoorie, and Ibrahim Salih Mohammed al Yacoub are also on the FBI's most wanted list. The U.S. State Department is offering an award of up to $5 million for information leading directly to the arrest or indictment of Abdelkarim al Nasser.