Al-Qaida threatens to ‘stun’ U.S., Israel

Al-Qaida is threatening to deliver ”devastating blows” against the United States and Israel, according to a report by Middle East Online.

”The next strikes will stun the Americans and Israelis,” Abu Mohammad al-Ablaj, the coordinator of the al-Qaida-affiliated Mujahedeen Training Center, said in an e-mail published by the London-based, Saudi-owned weekly, Al-Majallah.

”The upcoming strikes will throw the enemy off balance. They will target the rear of the snake the United States, which Abu Abdullah bin Laden said should be hit,” al-Ablaj reportedly wrote.

”These strikes will hearten the faithful and disconcert the infidels,” he said, applauding Monday’s suicide bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which killed at least 34 people, including nine bombers.

According to a report in the London Times, bin Laden singled out Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Pakistan as targets for ”martyrdom operations” in a chilling audio tape issued only three months before the latest string of bombings.

Counter-terrorism officials in Washington, Europe and the Middle East say al-Qaida is reorganizing, training new members and planning new attacks, according to the New York Times.

The terror network has sent new scouts to the United States to look for targets and two Arab men were arrested in the last two months due to suspicions they were scouting targets for attacks in the U.S. A total of six suspected terrorists were arrested on U.S. soil ”in recent months,” the Times reported.

Based on intelligence and interviews with detained terrorists, officials believe al-Qaida is still interested in mounting an attack with an aircraft. They have been studying possible targets including gasoline trucks, suspension bridges and landmarks.

Al-Qaida now has an estimated 3,000 members, according to a senior official who spoke to the newpaper. Some 20,000 terrorists were believed to have trained in Afghanistan’s al-Qaida camps during the 1990s.

Authorities believe al-Qaida has opened new training camps in Sudan and established ”a strong foothold” in Kenya and other parts of East Africa.

Pakistan and Chechnya are also sites of ”reorganized bases of operations,” the report said.

There’s been a spike in recruitment since the U.S. invaded Iraq in March. Al-Qaida’s leaders are accustomed to operating on the run and the network is reorganizing into ”smaller, more disciplined units.”

”Definitely, their capability has been eroded,” a senior government official was quoted as saying. ”But they are still a threat, they are still sophisticated, they are still fighting and they are still trying to strike in the United States,” the official told the Times.

The report appeared to flesh out a spate of terror warnings by Western countries, which were followed by deadly attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco.

Numerous Western countries, including the United States, issued terror and travel warnings for Kenya, and Britain suspended all commercial flights to Kenya.

Western countries also put their citizens on alert in the Middle East and Southeast Asia due to intercepted communications indicating terrorist attacks linked to al-Qaida may be imminent.