Venezuela beefs security on al Qaeda oil threat

CARACAS, Feb 15 (Reuters) Venezuela's defense minister today said the nation would reinforce security measures after a branch of al Qaeda called for attacks on suppliers of oil to the United States.

Venezuela provides around 11 per cent of US oil imports despite diplomatic tensions between Caracas and Washington over leftist President Hugo Chavez's self-styled socialist revolution.

Gen Raul Baduel told reporters that security and intelligence agencies would ''take actions and implement previously established security plans, but reinforce them with the goal of guaranteeing security.'' He called for calm and said Chavez would provide further instructions about how to deal with the threat.

A Saudi wing of al Qaeda, in a statement posted on a Web site yesterday, called for attacks on suppliers of oil to the United States to cut off vital oil supplies.

Luis Cabrera, a military advisor to the president, earlier had questioned the authenticity of the threat in comments published by local media.

He said it was illogical that ''al Qaeda, which is against North American imperialism, would go against a state that is fighting, though in a different way, against that hegemony.'' Venezuela's interior minister said on Wednesday the government was ready to carry out any investigation necessary to ensure the continued functioning of the nation's oil industry.

Reuters SSC DB2317