Nothing new in al-Qaida threats, says US security chief

AMERICA'S Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge said yesterday there was nothing new in a statement attributed to al-Qaida that threatens new attacks in New York and Washington unless America stops supporting Israel and converts to Islam.

"The threats contained in that piece are the same threats we've been hearing now for the past year," Mr Ridge said.

"It's just added to the totality of the threat environment within which we're working but we don't add any special credence to it other than we know we're at war.

"The war on terrorism has come to our shores. We have to deal with it."

Mr Ridge added that the Bush administration was uncertain of the source of the letter.

"We're familiar with that piece of information. There are no new threats," he said.

"There are the same old conditions. It's just part of the continuing threat environment that we assess. It's really nothing new."

On Saturday, a correspondent for the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera revealed that he received the unsigned, six-page document on Wednesday, a day after the station broadcast an audiotape believed made by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

The United States and other governments blame bin Laden for the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and damaged the Pentagon in Washington, killing more than 3,000 people on September 11, 2001.

The Arab TV correspondent, Yosri Fouda, who is known for good contacts within al-Qaida, would only say that the statement came from his sources within the group.

But he insisted he was certain it came from the terrorist movement's leadership.

Mr Fouda quoted the statement as saying: "Stop your support for Israel against the Palestinians, for Russians against the Chechens ... for corrupt leaders in our countries ... and leave us alone or expect us in Washington and New York."

He added that the statement demanded that US troops leave the Arabian Peninsula, and justified the killings of American civilians because they pay taxes that finance military operations.

Mr Fouda said the statement also referred to the crisis between the US and Iraq as one more reason to attack Americans.

Meanwhile, a militant Islamic Web site that carries news about al-Qaida has dismissed as lies a report that a senior member of the terror group is in US custody.

US officials in Washington said last Friday that one of the leaders of al-Qaida had been detained in a foreign country and handed over to US authorities.