After 20-years on the run, terrorist behind 1996 Khobar Towers bombing caught

Ahmed al-Muhassil

Ahmed al-Mughassil, the main suspect in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing has been captured in Beirut. The attack which killed 19 U.S. service personnel and wounded almost 500 people occurred when a truck bomb exploded outside the building. It resulted in the US and Saudi Arabia accusing Iran of orchestrating the bomb attack. Iran has since denied any responsibility.

The Khobar Towers after the destruction

Asharq al-Awsat quoted official Saudi sources as saying Saudi security personnel had received information about the presence of 48-year-old Mughassil in Beirut, the Taipei Times reports.
“The discovery of Mughassil and his arrest in Lebanon and his subsequent transfer to Saudi Arabia is a qualitative achievement, for the man had been in disguise in a way that made it hard to identify him,” Asharq al-Awsat said.
In 2006, a US federal judge ordered Iran to pay US$254 million to the families of 17 US service personnel killed in the attack in a judgement entered against the Iranian government, its security ministry and the Revolutionary Guards.