Al Qaeda vows more US attacks

Last updated at 15:22 27 April 2004


An audio tape said to be from a senior Saudi al Qaeda leader has warned that the group will carry out "fierce" attacks this year against US interests and urged Muslims to avoid American civilian and military sites.

But the tape by Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, audible today through a link on the Dirasat Islamist Web site, which carries statements said to come from senior al Qaeda and Taliban officials, said last week's suicide car bombing of a security building in the Saudi capital Riyadh was not the work of al Qaeda.

In the attack a suicide bomber destroyed a building housing Saudi security and police, killing at least five people including a senior police officer and wounding 148 people.

Attacks 'fiercer and harsher'

The tape was signed off by Muqrin, who is said to have recently taken over leadership of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, a key US ally and the world's largest oil exporter, after the killing of former top operative Khaled Ali Ali Haj.

"The Jews, the Americans and crusaders (Christians) in general will remain the targets of our coming attacks and this year, God willing, will be fiercer and harsher for them," said the voice on the tape which was clearly audible.

The seven-minute tape, which began with Koranic verses, was not immediately verified as authentic, but the language and style were similar to previous al Qaeda statements and the voice to that on an earlier videotape purportedly by Muqrin, also carried on Dirasat on April 18.

The latest tape warned Americans to leave the Arabian peninsula and Washington to withdraw its troops and bases from Muslim states and to end its occupation of Muslim land and its support of Israel.

Al Qaeda is widely blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The tape said Muslim leaders who allied themselves to the "American crusaders" should not expect to be spared from militant attacks.

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