Al Qaeda faction urges oil attacks
A Saudi Arabian terrorist group affiliated with Al Qaeda has urged Muslim militants to attack oil facilities worldwide, including in Canada, Mexico and Venezuela, to stop the flow of petroleum to the United States, according to an article by the group posted on the Internet.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said in its monthly magazine posted on an Islamic website that “cutting oil supplies to the United States, or at least curtailing it, would contribute to the ending of the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.”
The group said it was making the statements as part of Osama bin Laden’s declared policy.
Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for last year’s attacks on oil installations in Saudi Arabia and Yemen after Bin Laden called on militants to stop the flow of oil to the West. The group also was behind the 2002 attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person in the Gulf of Aden.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service declined to comment on the report.
In Mexico, a presidential spokesman said the government was trying to confirm the veracity of the threat. Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry said it had no immediate comment.
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