Count on more refinery fires and explosions and attacks against pipelines and shipping. Bruce
Al Qaeda renews oil threat From: Agence France-Presse >From correspondents in Dubai February 26, 2006 AL-QAEDA's Saudi network has vowed to attack more oil facilities, according to an Internet statement posted overnight after a thwarted attack on the desert kingdom's largest oil installation. "We reaffirm our determination to defeat the crusader and tyrannic forces, stop the plunder of the Muslims' riches, free Muslim land and cleanse the Arabian Peninsula of infidels," said the statement by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the network's local branch is known. "We will not stop attacks until (the presence of infidels) has been eliminated," the statement said. Its authenticity could not be confirmed. The chilling message cast a pall on Riyadh's efforts to reassure markets made jittery by the failed double suicide bomb attack Friday on the world's largest oil-producing centre that left two security guards and the two bombers dead. The Al-Qaeda statement also identified the two "martyrdom-seekers" who died in what the group claimed was a successful attack on the Abqaiq facility in the oil-rich Eastern Province. The Internet posting named the pair as Abdullah Abdul Aziz Ibrahim al-Tuwaijri and Mohammed Saleh Mohammed al-Ghaith, both of whom figured on a 36-strong list of wanted militants issued by Saudi authorities last June. "We warn against the spurious allegations of Saudi media that the operation was thwarted and the two cars exploded at the entrance (of the complex)," the statement said, deriding Riyadh's efforts to portray the botched attack as a tribute to the OPEC kingpin's security forces. Saudi Arabia announced on Friday it had foiled an attack against its major oil processing plant, the first known attempt against such an installation in the world's top oil producer since a wave of Al-Qaeda terror broke out in May 2003. "Security (forces) and staff of Saudi Aramco (the state oil conglomerate) succeeded in thwarting a terrorist attempt against the Abqaiq oil processing plants," Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said immediately after the attempted attack. Al-Qaeda's local branch had issued another statement overnight claiming responsibility for the attempted assault in the kingdom, which sits on a quarter of the world's proven crude reserves. A security official told AFP that two security men and at least two assailants were killed in the attempted suicide car bomb attack at the gates of the Abqaiq complex. The death of the two security men was confirmed in a statement by the interior ministry Saturday. The closest Al-Qaeda's militants had previously got to Saudi oil installations was in May 2004, when a shooting rampage in a petrochemical complex in the Red Sea industrial port of Yanbu left six Westerners dead. World oil prices leapt on news of the attempted attack. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, soared 2.37 dollars to 62.91 dollars per barrel in closing trading after spiking as high as 63.25 dollars. At least 90 civilians, 54 security personnel and 125 militants have now died since Al-Qaeda's wave of terror began in the desert kingdom, triggering a relentless crackdown by security forces on suspected extremists. Hundreds more have been wounded. In December 2004, Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden called on his followers to target oil installations in both the Gulf and Iraq. Saudi Arabia currently pumps around 9.5 million barrels of oil per day and has an output capacity of 11 million bpd. The Eastern Province was the scene of a major attack at the height of the unrest in May 2004, when a shooting and hostage-taking rampage in the city of Al-Khobar left 22 people dead, including four Westerners. A top oil and security adviser told AFP that terror attacks on Saudi oil facilities, like the one attempted Friday, are doomed to fail given security measures in the kingdom. "Unless you have a specialised force of a foreign army, such attacks are impossible to succeed," said Nawaf Obaid, managing director of Saudi National Security Assessment Project, a government consultancy. At any given time, there are 30,000 troops on average guarding the massive oil and gas network in the vast kingdom, he said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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