In order to secure the release of its female operative arrested by Saudi forces, Al Qaeda has threatened to kidnap Saudi princes and ministers, a television report has said.
In an audiotape played on Al Arabiya TV, an Al Qaeda regional commander reportedly threatened “major operations” against the kingdom following the arrest of Haylah Al Qassir.
Qassir was believed to be responsible for recruiting women to the group as well as handling money issues, the report said.
“Al Qaeda is organising cells to kidnap princes, ministers and officials including military commanders,” Saeed Al Shehri said in the audiotape.
He said that “preacher” Heila Al Qsayer, a widow of a Saudi Al Qaeda militant killed six years ago by the Saudi authorities, was arrested in Qassim, north of the capital, but did not specify when.
“We tell our soldiers: You have to kidnap in order to release the prisoners,” he said.
Shihri, who is purportedly number two in the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, insisted that families of prisoners held in Saudi Arabia should take arms to secure their release instead of grovelling to officials.
“Stop knocking at the doors of the tyrants and their deviant ulemas,” he said.
“If you want your relatives to be released from prison, they will only be out by the same way they were taken in,” he said.
In April, the group tried to assassinate the British ambassador to Yemen when a suicide bomber threw himself into the path of his convoy in the capital, Sana’a. —PTI