Al-Qaida target oil fields

Al-Qaida is seeking recruits in the Middle East for terror attacks on oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the event of a US-led war against Iraq, it was reported today.

Meanwhile, US officials said there were signs Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s forces have rigged Iraqi oil fields with explosives in anticipation of sabotaging them during US and British attacks.

US intelligence officials told The Washington Times that al-Qaida recruiters were targeting Islamic fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia and Yemen who are willing to carry out suicide attacks and other missions against the oil fields outside Iraq.