Navies brace for Qaeda oil attacks

RIYADH: Coalition naval forces are helping to guard vital oil installations in top exporter Saudi Arabia as part of heightened security following an Al-Qaeda threat last month, naval sources said yesterday. In their sights are the kingdom’s Ras Tanura terminal, the world’s biggest offshore oil export facility, and Bahrain’s Bapco refinery. “Acting on information received, Coalition naval forces, operating in support of Saudi and Bahraini forces have deployed units to counter a possible maritime threat to the oil facilities at Ras Tanura,” Britain’s Royal Navy in Dubai said in a statement.

Saudi interior ministry spokesman General Mansour Al-Turki said threats to Saudi oil facilities by terrorist groups were ongoing, and that the authorities took the necessary security measures to thwart any attacks. “The terrorist threat to industrial installations exists, and (oil facilities) are a declared target of the deviant group to affect the interests of the Saudi citizen,” Turki said, using the official Saudi term for Al-Qaeda militants who launched a wave of attacks in the kingdom three and a half years ago. “There are preventive measures in any installation, be it Ras Tannura or others, to prevent any terrorist operation,” he added. “Saudi security forces are cooperating and coordinating with the Saudi navy to take the necessary security measures.”

The US State Department said yesterday the United States is ready to help ally Saudi Arabia fight any threats from Al-Qaeda. But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment specifically on the threat to Ras Tanura. “We have excellent counter-terrorism cooperation with Saudi Arabia and we of course would do whatever we could if there was a request from the Saudi government, both in general or specific terms, for assistance in countering a terrorist threat,” McCormack said. McCormack said Al-Qaeda had recently issued a videotaped message in which it called for “terrorists” to attack Saudi oil facilities.

Kuwait Times