Qaeda claims Yemen oil attack, vows more strikes

Dubai, Nov 8: Al Qaeda's wing in Yemen claimed responsibility for September 15 attacks on oil facilities in the Arab state and vowed more strikes against the United States and its allies.

''Let the Americans and their allies among the worshippers of the cross and their apostate aides ... know that these operations are only the first spark and that what is coming is more severe and bitter,'' the group said in a statement posted on the Internet.

The authenticity of the statement posted on a Web site used by Islamist militant groups could not be verified. The statement, believed to be the first posting by Yemen's branch of Qaeda, was dated Ramadan 20, which corresponds to October 13.

Yemen had said that four bombers were killed on September 15, when security forces blew up four rigged cars before they reached oil and gas facilities in the eastern provinces of Marib and Hadarmout. A guard was also killed, a worker with Canadian oil company Nexen Inc.

Commenting on the foiled attacks, the group said: ''These operations came in response to directives from our emir (leader) Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may God preserve him, in which he ordered Muslims to hit the Western economy and stop the robbing of Muslims' wealth.'' The group also urged Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ''to repent, return to his faith, apply Islamic law, renounce democracy, the religion of America, and abandon (his) alliance with the infidels.'' Saleh, who has ruled Yemen since 1990, made Yemen a U.S.

ally and has cracked down on al Qaeda after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and bombings at home.

Yemen, the ancestral home of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has been battling al Qaeda linked militants for years and Wednesday's election follows foiled attempts to blow up oil and gas facilities in the country last week.

REUTERS