'Al-Qaida' Tape Warns of More Attacks Against Us

Al-Qaida will this year carry out "fierce" new attacks against the US, according to a taped warning purported to have come from a senior leader of the terror organisation.

The warning was said to be from Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, believed to have recently become al-Qaida's main leader in Saudi Arabia.

The Reuters news agency picked up the audio recording from Islamist website Dirasat, which has in the past carried statements said to have come from senior al-Qaida and Taliban figures.

The voice on the seven-minute tape urged Muslims to avoid US civilian and military sites. It said last week's suicide car bombing of a security building in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in which five people were killed, had not been the work of al-Qaida.

Reuters quoted the warning as saying: "The Jews, the Americans, and crusader Christians in general will remain the targets of our coming attacks, and this year, God willing, will be fiercer and harsher for them.

"And the apostate Saudi government will be incapable of protecting their [US] interests or providing security for them."

Dirasat carried a similar warning, also said to have come from Muqrin, earlier this month.

The latest tape warned US citizens to leave the Arabian peninsula. It told Washington to withdraw its troops and bases from Muslim states, to end its occupation of Muslim land, and to stop its support of Israel.

The Saudi Arabian authorities have tried to crack down on militants, and Muqrin has warned Saudi security forces that they would be targeted if they continued to arrest and kill militants.

A tape purported to be of the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, was also aired in recent weeks. The recording offered Europe a "truce" if soldiers left Muslim lands, but warned of further attacks against the US.

Bin Laden, Muqrin and other leading al-Qaida members are Saudis. The US and UK governments have warned against all but essential travel to the country.