Al-Qaida prepared exploding holy book for faithful in Mecca
Posted: November 12, 2003
5:00 p.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Copies of the Quran were booby trapped by Muslim terrorists seeking to kill and maim pilgrims to Islam's holiest city, Mecca, according to a Saudi newspaper.
Saudi security sources say police found the unusual weapon amid arms caches discovered in recent raids of terrorist hideouts in Mecca and the Saudi capital of Riyadh, reported the London-based daily Asharq al-Awsat, according to Reuters.
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack on a Riyadh residential compound this week that killed at least 18 people.
Most were Arab expatriates.
Police searching the captured weapons in July found souvenir clocks that look like the Quran but had been booby-trapped, Asharq al-Awsat reported.
Triple suicide bombings in Riyadh in May that killed 35 people prompted the Saudi government to launch a crackdown against al-Qaida.
A raid last week on terrorist safe houses uncovered tons of explosives and rocket-propelled grenade launchers believed to have been intended for Muslim pilgrims, according to Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz. Five Islamists were killed in the clashes.
Police also discovered the terrorists had water bottles stuffed with explosives that could have been smuggled into shrines during a pilgrimage. Wigs and traditional loose-fitting Muslim women's garments apparently were on hand to help them not draw attention in public.
The Saudi paper said police also discovered a substantial inventory of meat cleavers and swords, indicating the terrorists were prepared to hack their victims to death in the same manner as Islamists in Algeria.
The raids turned up plans for assassinations and showed the terrorists used surveillance cameras to avoid being caught.
As WorldNetDaily reported, an online magazine purportedly published by al-Qaida says the one place in greatest need of a holy war is Saudi Arabia.
Muslims are obligated to wage jihad in the desert kingdom says the magazine "The Voice of Jihad" because of the U.S. presence there and its influence on the Saudi leadership, the House of Saud.
"It is amazing that many jihad youths turn to other arenas and abandon this great arena and the [mission of the] liberation of the pure land [namely Saudi Arabia] from the defilement of the Crusaders and their lackeys, even though this land is the worthy land for jihad that requires purification and liberation more than any other land," the editorial says in the magazine's first edition.
Among the reasons Saudi Arabia has not been considered a target of jihad, the editorial says, is the influence of clerics who support the Saudi regime and "find nothing wrong with their land being occupied by American female soldiers."
Saudi Arabia is regarded by Muslims as the keeper of its two holiest shrines, Mecca and Medina.
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