Saudi Qaeda group wants world U.S. oil sources hit
DUBAI (Reuters) - A Saudi wing of al Qaeda called for attacks on suppliers of oil to the United States around the world, saying targets should not be limited to the Middle East and listing Canada, Venezuela and Mexico as under threat.
The threat appeared in the al Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula's e-magazine, Sawt al-Jihad (Voice of Holy War), which was posted on a Web site used by Islamist militants.
"It is necessary to hit oil interests in all regions which serve the United States, not just in the Middle East. The goal is to cut its supplies or reduce them through any means," it said.
The group was behind a failed February 2006 attack on the world's largest oil processing plant, the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia.
"Targeting oil interests includes production wells, export pipelines, oil terminals and tankers and that can reduce U.S. oil inventory, forcing it to take decisions it has been avoiding for a long time and confuse and strangle its economy," it said.
Officials and regulators in Canada's oil and gas sector said they were taking the threat seriously but had not raised security levels.
"We've always said that we're not immune to possibilities of terrorism," Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said.
Canada is the biggest exporter of crude oil to the United States, followed by Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Continued...
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