New warning allegedly from al Qaida

A statement attributed to al Qaida threatened more attacks in New York and Washington unless the US stops supporting Israel and converts to Islam, an Arab TV reporter who received the unsigned document said.

Yosri Fouda, correspondent for the satellite station Al-Jazeera, told Associated Press on Saturday that he received the six-page document on Wednesday. On Tuesday the TV station broadcast an audiotape purportedly made by Osama bin Laden.

Fouda, who is known for good contacts within al Qaida, would only say that the statement came from his sources with the group. But he insisted he was certain it came from the terrorist movement’s leadership.

Fouda, speaking by telephone from London, said the statement called on Americans to stop supporting Israel and other governments that “oppress” Muslims or else face more attacks. The statement also called on Americans to convert to Islam, he said.

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

There was no immediate reaction from Washington. No officials were available for comment at the Pentagon or the National Security Council Saturday afternoon.

Fouda is a prominent Arab television journalist who has broken several important stories about al Qaida. In September, Al-Jazeera broadcast Fouda’s interviews with two top al Qaida operatives hiding in Pakistan, Ramzi Binalshibh and Khaled Sheik Mohammed.

Binalshibh was arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, shortly after the broadcast and was transferred to US custody.

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

“You are placing Muslims under siege in Iraq, where children die every day. Oh, how weird that you don’t care for 1.5 million Iraqi children who died under siege, but when 3,000 of your compatriots died, the whole world was shaken,” Fouda quoted the statement as saying.

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

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to identify the detainee, but said he was not al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, his chief deputy, his son or the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks.

The site scoffed at the US officials’ refusal to name the detainee. “Maybe they fear to announce a certain name, and al-Qaida would issue a denial so their (the US) situation would become worse,” it said.