Unnamed Saudi officials quoted in The New York Times describe al-Ghamdi as a militant cleric from the same tribe as several of the aircraft hijackers of September 11 -- a tribe from Saudi Arabia's Asir Province, north of the Saudi border with Yemen.

CNN: Sheik in bin Laden videotape may be Saudi cleric

Signs of anti-Western militancy are rife throughout this vast kingdom, from the capital, Riyadh--where in June separate car bombs blew up a British banker outside his home and nearly killed an American expatriate--to Abha, a remote mountain city in the southern province of Asir, where four of the hijackers were raised and locals still celebrate all "the Fifteen, " as the group is called.

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