Al-Qaida warns of Ramadan attacks

An e-mail written by a purported al-Qaida leader has warned the terrorist network is preparing to stage devastating attacks against Americans during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

The al-Qaida operative, who identified himself as Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj, wrote in an e-mail sent to the London-based Al-Majalla magazine that Osama bin Laden “has issued new orders to his followers about waging a guerrilla war against Arab and Islamic countries … in which the United States has military or commercial presence.”

There was no immediate way to verify the e-mail’s authenticity.

The e-mail said American “civilian and military” interests have become legitimate targets for Muslims all over the world and it did not rule out that the “upcoming painful strike” will be against US Forces in Iraq.

Al-Majalla’s reporter in Dubai, Mahmoud Khalil, said he received al-Ablaj’s e-mail last week before America and Britain issued terror alerts.

On October 25, the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia said it continued to receive information that terrorists were planning future operations and urged Americans to be ”particularly vigilant” during Ramadan, which began earlier this week.

Al-Majalla began receiving al-Ablaj’s e-mails earlier this year, and a US counterterrorism official has said previously that al-Ablaj was believed to be an al-Qaida operative, who is also known as Abu Bakr.

During an exchange of e-mails, reporter Khalil said al-Ablaj did not say if the planned attacks would occur inside or outside America.

The e-mail said al-Qaida leaders were also planning to urge “trusted (Islamic) scholars” to issue “fatwas,” or religious edicts, legitimising a guerrilla war against US aligned Arab and Islamic countries, which “will not be limited to martyrdom operations and explosions.

“There will be several means of individual and group killing with different kinds of weapons,” the e-mail added without elaborating.

The surfacing of the purported al-Qaida warning follows a recent spree of suicide bombings and rocket attacks in Baghdad aimed at an international aide group, US led forces and Iraqi police supporting the coalition occupation of the Arab country.

Doubt remains over who is co-ordinating the attacks, which US officials say are becoming more sophisticated and organised. US and Iraqi officials point at shadowy ”foreign fighters,” but commanders on the ground say they are uncertain what role, if any, such figures play. Senior officers have avoided tying recent attacks to al-Qaida.

Suicide bombers who struck multiple targets in co-ordinated strikes last week used 5,000 pounds of plastic explosives and diversionary tactics characteristic of al-Qaida operations, a senior US counterterrorism official said.