Yemen’s al-Qaida deputy chief calls for attacks on Saudi Arabia, US interests in region

Yemen’s al-Qaida deputy chief urges new attacks

SAN’A, Yemen — The deputy chief of al-Qaida’s offshoot in Yemen called for attacks on Saudi Arabia and U.S. interests in the region in a new audio message posted Monday on the Internet.

The statement, purportedly by Said al-Shihri, urged followers “to attack the interests of America and the Crusaders, and their agents … especially the Saudi” rulers who he claimed wage a proxy war against Muslims on U.S. behalf.

Yemen’s Interior Ministry dismissed the threat, saying it reflected “increasing isolation and despair” on the part of the al-Qaida group.

The audio message is the first time al-Shihri surfaced since a Dec. 24 airstrike by Yemeni forces that targeted him and other al-Qaida figures in this impoverished Arabian Peninsula country. In the 12-minute audio, al-Shihri sought to reassure al-Qaida’s leadership in Afghanistan that the Yemeni chiefs were unharmed.

He also congratulated Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab for his “blessed” attempt to blow up the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently confirmed but it was posted on a Web site commonly used for militant messages.

The al-Qaida offshoot has become a pressing concern for U.S. security after Abdulmutallab, who spent weeks in Yemen prior to his failed attack, told FBI investigators the group provided him with explosives and training.

On Dec. 24, the day before Abdulmutallab’s alleged bombing attempt, Yemeni warplanes raided a site in the Shabwa province targeting an al-Qaida gathering said to have included al-Shihri, the group’s chief Nasir al-Wahishi, and possibly even the radical American-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

Al-Awlaki has been tied to both Abdulmutallab’s attempted airplane attack and the Nov. 5 shooting rampage at the Fort Hood army base in Texas.

Yemeni officials later said at least 30 militants were killed in the airstrike, and that al-Wahishi, and al-Shihri were in a “weak state” following the raid. But they did not clarify if that meant they were wounded.

In the latest audio, al-Shihri said the Yemeni air force was “still flying over our heads to define the locations” of future strikes and urged Muslims to take up arms for jihad, or holy war.

“Oh, our people in the Arabian Peninsula … we advise you to get your weapons ready to defend your religion and yourselves together with your brothers,” al-Shihri said.

The Interior Ministry statement said security forces would continue to pursue al-Qaida hideouts throughout Yemen.

Saudi Arabia, which has successfully cracked down on al-Qaida militants in the kingdom, has long ben concerned the terror group will take advantage of the Yemen’s lawless regions to build a solid base of operations there from which it can threaten the whole peninsula. The offshoot al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula was formed a year ago, when Yemen and Saudi militant groups merged.