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Saudi faction of al-Qaeda threatens US oil suppliers

A Saudi Arabian terrorist faction affiliated with al-Qaeda has urged Muslim militants to attack oil facilities all over the world, including Canada, Mexico and Venezuela, to stop the flow of oil to the US, according to an article by the group posted on the Internet.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said in its magazine posted on an Islamic Web site that "cutting oil supplies to the United States, or at least curtailing it, would contribute to the ending of the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan."

The group said it was making the statements as part of Osama bin Laden's declared policy.

It was not possible to verify independently that the posting was from the terror faction.

Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for last year's attacks on oil installations in Saudi Arabia and Yemen after bin Laden called on militants to stop the flow of oil to the West. The group was behind the 2002 attack on a French oil tanker that killed a person in the Gulf of Aden.

The article in the semi-monthly online magazine Sawt al-Jihad (Voice of the Holy War), said the US would always need more oil.

"In the long run, America might be able to lessen its dependence on Middle East oil and would be satisfied with oil from Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and other new customers or double its dependence on alternative energy resources; therefore, oil interests in all regions that serve the US and not only in the Middle East, should be attacked," it said.

In Ottawa, Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day told reporters: "We take this threat seriously."

Ray Lord, a spokesman for Chevron Corp, told the Canadian media company CanWest News the company was not aware of the latest threat, but security was a "top priority."

"Ever since 9/11 our entire company has been on an elevated alert," he said.

In Mexico, presidential spokesman Maximiliano Cortazar told reporters that President Felipe Calderon's government was trying to confirm the veracity of the threat.
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