Al-Qaida threatens terror attacks on Western airlines
A statement bearing Al-Qaida’s name warned tonight that Western airlines will be the terror group’s priority target in the near future.
It was, of course, al-Qaida that launched the September 11 attacks on the US by hijacking three airliners.
The statement appeared on an Islamist website known for carrying messages from militants, including the video in which a terror group with al-Qaida links executed the American kidnapped in Iraq, Nick Berg.
The statement’s authenticity could not be immediately verified, but it was signed ‘Al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula.’
The statement referred repeatedly to “crusaders” – militant jargon for Westerners.
It warned “all that is affiliated with these crusaders – from compounds, bases and means of transport, especially Western and American airlines – will be the direct targets of our next operations in the path of holy war which, with God’s help, we will not be diverted from, especially in the near future.”
The statement begins by warning all Muslims to avoid ”contact with the American and Western crusaders and all non-believers in the Arabian peninsula".
It urges Muslims to ignore Americans and Westerners “in their homes, compounds, movements and means of transport – in all shapes and forms".
The statement says the purpose of this warning is to spare ”our Muslim brothers’ blood".
“We act only to protect them, their religion, honour and life,” the statement says.
It reiterates its warning to those who work in proximity to Westerners: “We renew our warning to all security personnel, guards of crusader compounds and American bases, and all those that have stood by America and its allies … We ask them to return to the right path, to separate themselves from non-believers, to become their enemies and to fight holy war against them by money, word and weapon.”
“This enemy,” the statement goes on to say, “must be fought. There is no other way but to fight it and eradicate it.”
The statement appeared to be concerned with the American presence in Saudi Arabia rather than in Iraq. It referred to the Arabian Peninsula, which is south of Iraq, in its signature and it spoke of “agents of the tyrannical Saudi government.”
The website that has carried several statements and claims of responsibility from Islamic militants, most recently for last week’s terrorist attack in Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
