A statement purportedly from al-Qaeda militants in Saudi Arabia has warned of new attacks on US and Western airlines and other transport facilities. "All compounds, bases and means of transport, especially Western and American airlines, will be a direct target," it said. Posted on an pro-al-Qaeda website, it asks Muslims to keep away from Westerners and such locations. The statement’s authenticity could not be immediately verified. But it was signed "al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula".
Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi ambassador to Britain, on Monday defended the way his country was dealing with the threat from al-Qaeda, in an interview with the BBC. Saudi Arabia was taking the threat from al-Qaeda seriously, but some of the country’s operations against the group had been successful, and "some not so successful". But he said Saudi Arabia was not going to "go in all guns blazing" and arrest thousands of people. "That is precisely what the terrorists want us to do - to antagonise the population," he said. "There is a more methodical way of doing things - police work, investigations, co-operating with other agencies and other countries," he added. |