Al Qaeda again threatens New York, Washington and Los Angeles

A new message was posted in the last few hours by the Jeddah-based al-Qaeda-linked Al-Islah (Reform) society calling on Muslims to flee New York, Washington and Los Angeles in advance of major al Qaeda attacks in those cities. This is revealed by DEBKAfile.

The message accuses the United States of predetermining its end (doom) by its policies. ?The Jews rule the Pentagon by remote control and (are the cause) of Muslims being killed in every corner of the world. The United States should therefore expect more blows.?

The message is signed on behalf of the al Bayan (The Threat) movement by ?your warrior brother, Abul Hassan al Khadrami?.

Our Muslim expert identifies the name of the signatory as belonging to a Yemeni from Hadhrameuth, the Bin Ladens? place of origin where Osama enjoys substantial tribal support.

DEBKAfile?s counter-terror sources stress that warnings appearing on these forums are taken both very seriously and with caution by the intelligence services keeping track of the terrorist network?s electronic traffic.

Last November, Jeddah-based fundamentalist forums addressed a message to an Al Qaeda member, saying whoever understands ? understands; whoever knows, knows, but we are marching towards an operation that will take us to Paradise. Three days later, the Mombasa Paradise hotel was blown up killing 12 Kenyans and 3 Israelis and a failed shoulder-launched Strela anti-air missile missed an Israeli airliner at Mombasa airport.

Saturday November 22, 10:56 AM

US issues worldwide terror attack alert

The US government issued a worldwide warning that al-Qaeda may stage new attacks.

The State Department highlighted "recent terrorist attacks" in Saudi Arabia and Turkey and said the government "remains deeply concerned about the security of US citizens overseas."

The department issued what it called a "worldwide caution" against attacks and plane hijackings.

"We are seeing increasing indications that al-Qaeda is preparing to strike US interests abroad," said the warning, which came one day after 27 people were killed and more than 450 injured in two bomb attacks on British targets in the Turkish capital, Istanbul.

US officials have said the attack bore the hallmarks of Osama bin Laden's terror network and the group has reportedly claimed responsibility in a message sent to a Saudi newspaper.

A suicide attack in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on November 8 killed 17 people. A claim of responsibility in al-Qaeda's name was also made after that attack.

The US authorities warned that more attacks were possible in Turkey and advised Americans to avoid the country after the twin bombings on the British consulate and the Turkish headquarters of the British bank HSBC in Istanbul.

The United States released a similar worldwide caution on September 26 and the latest warning used similar language.

"Al-Qaeda and its associated organisations have struck in the Middle East in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and in Europe in Istanbul, Turkey.

"We therefore assess that other geographic locations could be venues for the next round of attacks.

"We expect al-Qaeda will strive for new attacks designed to be more devastating than the September 11 attack, possibly involving non-conventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents."

The State Department said it was also possible that al-Qaeda "will attempt a second catastrophic attack within the United States."

The country has been on a virtual continuous nationwide alert since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, which left more than 3,000 dead.

The alert said there could be "suicide operations, hijackings, bombings or kidnappings. These may also involve commercial aircraft and maritime interests."

It said "US government facilities worldwide remain at a heightened state of alert."

In its travel warning, the State Department said the latest Istanbul attacks after two earlier strikes against two synagogues in the city represented a significant change in the tactics of radical groups in Turkey.

World alert on 'cars of death' terror attacks

Luke Harding and Helena Smith in Istanbul, Owen Bowcott and Giles Foden

Saturday November 22, 2003

The Guardian

The heightened threat of suicide bombings was last night forcing UK embassies around the world to re-evaluate their defences against what an al-Qaida statement described as its "cars of death".

The explicit warning of fresh "martyrdom operations" was published as police in Istanbul detained seven suspects in connection with the devastating blasts at the British consulate and the HSBC bank.

All are understood to be Turkish passport holders.

Two of them, tentatively identified by the Turkish media as Azad Ekinci and Feridun Ugurlu, were close friends of Mesut Cabuk and Gokhan Elaltuntas, the men who carried out the suicide bombings of two synagogues in Istanbul last Saturday.

Ekinci, who fought in Chechnya and Bosnia, and Ugurlu, who trained in camps in Pakistan, reportedly hired the cars used in the synagogue attacks.

All four came from Bingol, in south-eastern Turkey and had connections to an Islamist paramilitary group renowned for killing liberal opponents.

The size of the car bombs assembled by the men could force an extensive rethink about the perimeter security of embassies and consulates.

The device which levelled two buildings in the Istanbul consulate is understood to have contained at least 225kg (500lb) of explosives.

Because of constricted road space near the consulate, a protective concrete block had been placed inside the main gates. Lessons about where barriers should be placed in future will now be studied by the security officers in every mission around the world.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We have instructed all departments, particularly those in the region, to review security practices".

It would be impossible for Britain to carry out its diplomatic, consular and visas responsibilities if security was the only consideration, she added. "Balancing the operational requirements against risks is very difficult."

In Jakarta, for example, the British ambassador, Richard Gozney, said that his mission was "trying to guard most of all against car bomb or parcel bomb attacks". The security at the consulate general was being "further tightened".

A Whitehall source warned that because al-Qaida had struck British interests abroad rather than at home did not imply that Britain was safe from attack.

The intelligence services and Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch have consistently advised that an al-Qaida atrocity in the UK is a matter of when, not if. "We share that sentiment", said the source. "We can do our very best, but it is difficult. We must be prepared for it."

The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, who inspected the ruined HSBC building yesterday and met the widow and elder daughter of Roger Short, the murdered British consul general, said the bombings were evidence of a "global threat" to the civilised world. "We who represent the civilised world are facing a global threat, and we have to deal with it in a global way."

One leading Turkish commentator last night said he believed al-Qaida had targeted Istanbul because it was the ultimate "symbolic city" that bridged the east and west, Islam and Christendom.

"The attacks send a message to the Islamic world that those countries which reform and acquire democratic values, like Turkey, will be a target of Islamic radicalism," Hussein Bagdi, a security expert at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, said.

A group close to the heart of al-Qaida yesterday claimed to have deliberately assassinated Mr Short. The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades posted a statement on its website saying it had targeted him because he was the "mastermind of the British policy in Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran because of his extensive experience in... combating Islam".

In what amounted to a highly unusual apology to Muslim victims, the statement - outlining Operation Islamic Iron Hammer, a sarcastic reference to the US military clampdown on guerrillas in Iraq - said: "We admit that the cars of death that targeted the British bank were put in an inappropriate place, which caused some casualties among innocents." But it promised further "cars of death".

The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack on the UN offices in Iraq in August.

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