Al-Qaeda vows more attacks

2006-11-08 10:50

Yemen - An al-Qaeda arm in Yemen on Tuesday claimed responsibility for September suicide attacks on two oil facilities in Yemen and threatened to launch new attacks against US targets in the country.

In an internet statement, the group said "those operations were only the first spark, and what is coming shall be harsher and bitter".

Four attackers and one security guard died when bombers drove four cars in suicide attacks against two oil facilities in eastern Yemen on September 15.

The four pick-up trucks detonated inside the two facilities in the south-eastern province of Hadhramout and the north-eastern province of Marib.

The posting said the September 15 attacks were ordered by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and are the first claim of responsibility from the terrorist group for an attack in Yemen.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country located on the south-western tip of the Arabian peninsula, was also the scene of a suicide attack on the US destroyer USS Cole in 2000.

Al-Qaeda praised that attack, but did not directly claim responsibility. A similar attack targeted the French supertanker Limburg in 2002.

"Those operations were a response to the directives of our emir (leader) Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may Allah preserve him, who ordered the Muslims to strike at the Western economy and prevent the stealing of the Muslims' wealth," said the statement signed by the "al-Qaeda Organisation in Yemen".

Sapa-dpa

- SAPA