Al-Qaida web statement vows faster strikes

Terror group Al-Qaida threatened faster and harder strikes against the United States and Israel “on land, air and sea” in a new statement posted on a militant website today.

The statement, attributed to the main suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States, said: “The Jewish Crusader coalition will not be safe anywhere from the fighters’ attacks.”

It used a term common among Islamic militants for what they see as a US-Israeli alliance.

“We will hit the most vital centres and we will strike against its strategic operations with all possible means,” said the statement, which was attributed to al-Qaida spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, and was seen in the Egyptian city of Cairo.

The website, which has posted previous statements attributed to al-Qaida, included what appeared to be an old newspaper photograph of Abu Ghaith.

The whereabouts of Abu Ghaith, along with those of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, have been a mystery since the network was chased out of its Afghan haven following the September 11 attacks.

The statement said: “We will chase the enemy with terrifying weapons.

“We have to widen our fighting fronts and conduct more concentrated and faster operations ... so (the enemy) feels unsafe and unstable on land, air and sea.”

The statement also said a purported al-Qaida claim of responsibility for the November 28 attacks on Israelis in Kenya was genuine. That claim was posted on several other Islamic sites last week.

Today’s statement noted that al-Qaida did not usually claim responsibility for attacks, but would do so “according to the relevant circumstances”.

US officials have said they considered the claim of responsibility for the Kenya attacks to be credible.

Terrorism experts believe al-Qaida has made use of the internet, which enables people to communicate widely and anonymously.

It has been difficult to trace and confirm postings attributed to al-Qaida which appear periodically on several sites.

The sites themselves often disappear and reappear, changing addresses as those who run them try to avoid being identified or after the companies that provide web services shut down sites that have drawn the attention of law enforcement authorities and journalists.