Al-Qaeda urges followers to launch attacks in West

Sanaa, Jan 21: The leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ali bin Naser al-Ansari has urged jihadis living in the West to launch attacks in these countries instead of travelling to conflict areas to take up arms.

The jihadi leader explained in a video posted Wednesday on forums used by radicals that the objective was to harm those countries that are hostile to Muslims, including the US, Britain, France and Canada.

The attacks perpetrated individually by "lone wolves" in the Western countries are more harmful than joining jihadi groups in conflict zones such as Yemen, Iraq and Syria, al-Ansari said.

"However, jihadis can choose to travel to conflict-affected countries if they lack the ability of carrying out attacks in the Western countries where they live," he added.

Al-Ansari also called on all those who sympathise with his group to fund their terrorist acts as they need money for operations. He noted that one car bomb attack costs 60,000 Saudi riyals (about $16,000).

He added that Al Qaeda was "making efforts on the level of foreign operations (outside Yemen)" to stalk the "enemies of Allah".

In a video last week, al-Ansari claimed responsibility for organising the attack on the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people were killed.

IANS