June 11, 2012 -- Updated 0626 GMT (1426 HKT)
Yemeni troops guard a government building in the capital, Sanaa, last month following reported Al-Qaeda threats.
It's a further sign of
what has been a consistent campaign by what U.S. officials believe is at
the moment the most ambitious and threatening element of al Qaeda, to
communicate and influence potential empathizers residing in the West.
One such message -- in
Arabic -- was posted by a user indentifying itself as the military
committee of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on the Shumukh and
Al-Fidaa jihadist forums, according to Flashpoint Global Partners,
which monitors jihadist web content.
"Corresponding with those
who yearn for martyrdom operations and the brothers who are searching
to execute an operation that would cause great damage to the enemies the
goal now is to activate those brothers who reside in the land of the
enemy ... whether Jewish, Christian or apostates as clearly individual
jihad or the so-called lone wolf has become popular," the posting
stated.
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The posting provided
three e-mail addresses for interested parties to contact AQAP, which the
posting said should be done by using downloadable encryption software.
The e-mails corresponded to ones previously published in the group's
English-language magazine Inspire.
The ninth issue of
Inspire, released last month, included a "how-to" section directed at
those seeking to carry out "martyrdom operations" in the West entitled
"Rise Up and Board with Us."
It stated the top
priority was to attack the United States then, in descending order of
importance, Israel, France, Britain and "apostate" regimes in the Muslim
world.
The section outlined two different ways Western followers who wanted to carry out terrorist attacks should proceed.
"First way: the mujahid
selects a target and present a detailed explanation about the target.
The military committee studies the target and then decide in that
matter. Second way: on the basis of the provided information, the
prospects of the mujahid and his location in the world, the target is
then selected by the military committee," the group stated.
Last month AQAP also
released a guide for Western recruits authored by Samir Khan, the
American founding editor of Inspire magazine who was killed in a drone
strike last year.
"I strongly recommend
all the brothers and sisters coming from the West to consider attacking
America in its own backyard. The effect is much greater, it always
embarrasses the enemy, and these type of individual decision-making
attacks are nearly impossible for them to contain," Khan wrote.
A U.S. official told
CNN's Barbara Starr last Thursday there are indications AQAP is seeking
recruits with specific knowledge of the United States and Western
targets.
The official painted a
picture of an al Qaeda affiliate that over the last year has grown
stronger, larger, more capable and more determined to attack the United
States.
Several weeks ago Saudi counterterrorism and the CIA broke up a new plot by the group to target a U.S.-bound passenger jet.
