An al Qaeda Yemeni wing threatened attacks on Thursday across the Arabian Peninsula against non-Muslim foreigners including tourists and journalists. “We warn you not to enter the Arabian Peninsula under any name or cover be it as tourists, diplomats, scientists, experts or journalists; you will be a primary target for the mujahideen,” al Qaeda in the South of the Arabian Peninsula said in the editorial of its e-magazine. “We stand absolved from (the rights) of any infidel who has entered the Arabian Peninsula. (Targeting) their blood and money are religiously right,” it said in reference to non-Muslim foreigners, whom al Qaeda calls infidels.
Al Qaeda-linked militants in neighbouring Saudi Arabia have waged attacks on Western targets but appear to have been weakened due to a security crackdown. Yemen has seen a surge in small attacks on government buildings and foreign embassies in recent weeks. Al Qaeda in the South of the Arabian Peninsula said it would not uphold any treaties between the government of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and any other country. “Our sheikh ... Osama bin Laden had made you an offer but you have ignored the truce,” it said. “No one can seek to be secure unless through permission from the sheikh of Islam, the renovator, Osama bin Laden,” it said. |