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Al Qaeda claims solidarity with Iraqi insurgents.
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Today: May 14, 2004 at 13:51:59 PDT
al-Qaida Helping Iraq Rebels, Leader Says
By RAWYA RAGEH
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Al-Qaida's alleged leader in Saudi Arabia said in an Internet statement that the militant network was helping insurgents who are battling occupation forces in Iraq.
In the statement that surfaced Friday on an al-Qaida-linked online periodical, Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin said al-Qaida is in close contact with fighters in Iraq.
"By our jihad in the Arab peninsula, we are serving Iraq's cause and helping the mujahedeen (fighters) there, whom we are in close contact with," he said. "There is mutual support between the two of us and we are working on confusing the American enemy."
It was not immediately possible to verify the statement's authenticity.
Al-Moqrin, believed by U.S. and Saudi officials to be al-Qaida's top figure in Saudi Arabia, called on all Saudis and Muslims to take part in militant operations to reinstate Islamic law and expel Americans from Arab lands.
"Muslims should realize that jihad in this country - to apply sharia (Islamic law) and expel occupying Crusaders - is a duty for all able ones," the statement said.
He said al-Qaida relies on independent cells who function without "organizational cohesion" to carry out its goals, following the group's example and books and periodicals on how to carry out militant operations.
As an example, he praised one cell for a May 1 attack in the western Saudi city of Yanbu that killed five Westerners and a Saudi.
"The Yanbu Cell that implemented the heroic successful operation this month is one of the best examples of what is required," the statement said.
Saudi officials have blamed various entities for the attack, from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network to Saudi exiles in London, to the more vague "external forces."
Al-Moqrin has been accused in the Nov. 8 bombing at a Riyadh housing compound that killed 17 people, but not in the Yanbu shooting. An unsigned statement on the Internet on May 6, however, praised al-Moqrin for that attack.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2004/may/14/051404601.html
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Today: May 14, 2004 at 13:51:59 PDT
al-Qaida Helping Iraq Rebels, Leader Says
By RAWYA RAGEH
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Al-Qaida's alleged leader in Saudi Arabia said in an Internet statement that the militant network was helping insurgents who are battling occupation forces in Iraq.
In the statement that surfaced Friday on an al-Qaida-linked online periodical, Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin said al-Qaida is in close contact with fighters in Iraq.
"By our jihad in the Arab peninsula, we are serving Iraq's cause and helping the mujahedeen (fighters) there, whom we are in close contact with," he said. "There is mutual support between the two of us and we are working on confusing the American enemy."
It was not immediately possible to verify the statement's authenticity.
Al-Moqrin, believed by U.S. and Saudi officials to be al-Qaida's top figure in Saudi Arabia, called on all Saudis and Muslims to take part in militant operations to reinstate Islamic law and expel Americans from Arab lands.
"Muslims should realize that jihad in this country - to apply sharia (Islamic law) and expel occupying Crusaders - is a duty for all able ones," the statement said.
He said al-Qaida relies on independent cells who function without "organizational cohesion" to carry out its goals, following the group's example and books and periodicals on how to carry out militant operations.
As an example, he praised one cell for a May 1 attack in the western Saudi city of Yanbu that killed five Westerners and a Saudi.
"The Yanbu Cell that implemented the heroic successful operation this month is one of the best examples of what is required," the statement said.
Saudi officials have blamed various entities for the attack, from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network to Saudi exiles in London, to the more vague "external forces."
Al-Moqrin has been accused in the Nov. 8 bombing at a Riyadh housing compound that killed 17 people, but not in the Yanbu shooting. An unsigned statement on the Internet on May 6, however, praised al-Moqrin for that attack.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2004/may/14/051404601.html
