Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia has confirmed the death of its leader Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin , an Islamist Internet site said on Sunday.  

"Fighting commander Abdul Aziz bin Issa al-Muqrin fell as a martyr on Friday ... in an ambush laid for him by the soldiers of tyranny in the Malaz district of Riyadh," said the statement signed by "Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula."

"The Mujahideen are continuing the jihad (holy struggle) that they have pledged to God and the killing of their brothers will not weaken their resolve but only increase their determination and commitment," it said.

The website, http://www.koolpages.com/sout19/index.htm, regularly publishes statements from the al-Qaeda terror network.

The Saudi authorities announced on Saturday the killing of Abdulaziz Al-Muqrin, a leader of the terrorist group in Saudi Arabia, along with three of his aides.

Al-Muqrin together with three other gunmen was shot dead in Riyadh on Friday night as they were trying to dispose the body of US hostage Paul Johnson, who was beheaded by the terrorists.

A security man was also killed and two others were injured during the clash.

Saudi Arabian authorities said on Saturday that it had substantially weakened al-Qaeda by killing its leader in Saudi Arabia after the group beheaded a US hostage.

Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir said in Washington that Johnson's body had not been recovered. Saudi security forces were still searching for the corpse, believed to be in the Riyadh area.

Twelve other militants were arrested in Friday's operation, including one senior militant believed to have been involved in the bombing in 2000 of the US warship Cole off the coast of neighboring Yemen.

"We believe that with this blow to al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia yesterday, we have substantially weakened their organization. We will continue to pursue them with vigor until we eliminate them from our midst," Jubeir told a news conference.

"We are resolved to fight terrorism, those who fund it and those who justify it. We will show no mercy," he added.

A Saudi Interior Ministry statement read out on television named the other three dead militants as Faisal al-Dakheel, Turki al-Muteiri and Ibrahim al-Dreihim. Dakheel was wanted for killings including that of an American in Riyadh, it said.

The statement said the four men were tracked down to a petrol station in the Malazz district of central Riyadh.

Security forces found three cars, including one used in an attack earlier this month on a British Broadcasting Corporation television crew in Riyadh, it added.

They also found guns, three rocket propelled grenades, 16 pipe bombs, 10 hand grenades and currency worth around US$37,000.

Johnson was the third American killed in Riyadh in the past 10 days. He worked for defense contractor Lockheed Martin making Apache helicopter gunships, used by the US and Israel.

(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2004)