May 17, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1424

RIYADH, May 16: The Al Qaeda network is planning major attacks in various cities of the Gulf, it was revealed in an e-mail sent to the Al-Mujalla magazine, just before the Riyadh bombings.

Unveiling the long-term strategy, a senior Al Qaeda leader said it intends to carry out major attacks in the Gulf countries. The message to the magazine also specified that a large quantity of weapons and explosives have already been made available to launch the attacks.

“We will attack the rear of the American Army,” Abu Muhammad Al-Ablaj, also known as Mulla Saifuddin, told the magazine in the message. He claimed that Al Qaeda was also in a position to manufacture explosives. But he did not disclose about how the organisation managed to collect these weapons and ammunitions in major Gulf cities.

In the message sent on Saturday, it was told that the announcement by the Saudi authorities of foiling a major attack would have no consequence on their planning. Of the 19 people, accused by the Saudi authorities earlier this month of planning a major attack, Al-Ablaj said, “only three of them are officially associated with Al Qaeda. The remaining 16 had taken part in the Afghan war”.

Although Al-Ablaj was not much heard of in past, the magazine says, he has been in touch with them since early April, promising anti-US attacks. In his latest messages, he seemed to be suggesting that the targets would be US military installations.

Ablaj had earlier sent another e-mail to Al-Mujalla on April 7, which the magazine decided not to carry. In that message he had said that the group had completed preparations for a major terrorist operation. “The attack would be carried out in a month or less,” he had pre-warned in the April 7 message.