By Freeman Makopa
Majid al-Majid, al-Qaeda’s commander in Lebanon, has died in custody in a Beirut hospital, Lebanon’s army reports.
The Saudi, who led the Abdullah Azzam Brigades and was on Saudi Arabia’s most-wanted-terrorists list, was arrested in Lebanon recently.
Addressing Journalists the Lebanese army said Majid al-Majid “died this morning while undergoing treatment at the central military hospital after his health deteriorated. The militant died of kidney failure.
He had led a group that has carried out attacks across the Middle East and claimed a bomb attack on Iran’s Beirut embassy in November that killed 23 people. A situation which has left no doubt that his capture was a precious one not only for Lebanon but for many other countries where he was among the most-wanted. The whole intelligence operation, from the capture of the Saudi national until the announcement of his death, has been slowed down in uncertainty.
Official reports local media suspected a US tip-off leading to his capture but the Lebanese army is refusing to disclose such information in fear of an unexpected counterattack from supporters of various Islamist groups.
The Lebanese army statement said Majid al-Majid died in a military hospital in Beirut on Saturday, as he was receiving medical treatment whilst Security sources said he had gone into a coma suffering from kidney failure as he was believed to have required dialysis for the condition.
Lebanon appears to have become an operational centre for al-Qaeda affiliated groups. Many fear Majid al-Majid is just one link in a long chain of Jihadi groups here on Friday the Lebanese authorities said that DNA tests had confirmed his identity.
Majid al-Majid was the alleged commander of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades a Sunni militant group with al-Qaida links and one of the 85 most-wanted individuals in his native Saudi Arabia. The U.S. State Department designated his group a foreign terrorist organization in 2012, freezing any assets it holds in the United States and banning Americans from doing business with the group.
Minister of Defence Fayez Ghosn earlier confirmed the commander was being held by army intelligence in Beirut and was being questioned in secret but he however refused him to say when and how the arrest took place.
However, a Lebanese security source told journalists that he had been captured with another Saudi militant and had been living in the southern city of Sidon.
Al-Majid was believed to have serious kidney problems that require dialysis. He was an important figure, and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades grew from a relatively small outfit to a larger terror group since he took over in mid-2012, after the organization’s previous leader, Saleh al-Qarawi, was gravely wounded in Pakistan.
Al-Majid was detained during the last week of December while on his way from Beirut to the eastern Bekaa Valley that borders Syria. And the reports indicated that he was captured while in an ambulance after he had undergone dialysis at a hospital in Beirut.
Based in Lebanon and the Arabian Peninsula Abdullah Azzam Brigades was formed in 2009, according to US, but name used to claim attacks in Egypt in 2004 and 2005 ,Saudi wing claimed 2010 attack on Japanese oil tanker off the coast of Oman.
Lebanese wing behind occasional rocket fire against Israel since 2009, but not believed to have carried out a major attack until embassy bombing Led since 2012 by Majid al-Majid, a Saudi citizen named on the kingdom’s most-wanted list.
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