Free Republic

Qatar buys off Al-Qaeda attacks with oil millionsUzi Mahnaimi, Doha THE government of Qatar is paying millions of pounds a year to Al-Qaeda in return for an undertaking to spare it from further terrorist attacks, official sources in the wealthy Gulf state claimed last week. The money, paid to spiritual leaders sympathetic to Al-Qaeda, is believed to be helping to fund its activities in Iraq. In a recent message broadcast via the internet, Osama Bin Laden told followers that operations in Iraq were costing Al-Qaeda more than £500,000 a month. The sources said a deal between Qatar and Al-Qaeda...

Al-Qa'eda linked to bombing in Qatar By Oliver Poole in Qatar (Filed: 21/03/2005) Authorities in Qatar were last night investigating whether al-Qa'eda was responsible for the suicide-bomb attack which killed a British expatriate at a theatre staging a Shakespeare play in the oil-rich Gulf state. Anti-terrorism experts from the Metropolitan Police will fly out this week to assist in the investigation. As Jon Adams approached the car, the driver detonated explosives The bombing, near the capital Doha on Saturday, came on the eve of the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Qatar is home to the US Central Command,...

<p>An explosion has rocked a British school near the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar, Arabic television and witnesses have said. The blast is reported to have happened during a performance at a theatre, although it is unclear whether this was at the school or nearby.</p>

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Qatar and other energy-rich countries of the Persian Gulf are some of the most crime-free places on Earth and among the most friendly to U.S. interests. Even so, anti-Western feelings are on the rise, and with a Saudi crackdown on terror pushing militants into neighboring countries, observers say the Gulf states must act fast to prevent more bombings like Saturday's theater blast in Doha to halt serious damage to the region's appeal to Western tourists, residents and business. "If the Qataris can dismantle this cell quickly and prove they are effective, I don't think this...

By Odai Sirri DOHA (Reuters) - Investigators hunted for clues on Sunday as to whether al Qaeda was behind the suicide bombing of a Qatar theater that killed a Briton, the first such attack in the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state. The bomber, an Egyptian national, rammed a car laden with explosives into the one-story theater near a British school in the capital Doha during a production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" on Saturday, officials and witnesses said. The Qatari Interior Ministry identified the suicide attacker as Omar Ahmad Abdullah Ali, who also owned the vehicle, Qatar-based Al Jazeera television said. Egypt's...