Yemeni Qaeda warns non-Muslims in Arabian Peninsula

By Inal Ersan

DUBAI, May 15 (Reuters) - An al Qaeda Yemeni wing threatened attacks on Thursday across the Arabian Peninsula against non-Muslim foreigners including tourists and journalists.

"We warn you not to enter the Arabian Peninsula under any name or cover be it as tourists, diplomats, scientists, experts or journalists; you will be a primary target for the mujahideen," al Qaeda in the South of the Arabian Peninsula said in the editorial of its e-magazine.

"We stand absolved from (the rights) of any infidel who has entered the Arabian Peninsula. (Targeting) their blood and money are religiously right," it said in reference to non-Muslim foreigners, whom al Qaeda calls infidels.

Al Qaeda-linked militants in neighbouring Saudi Arabia have waged attacks on Western targets but appear to have been weakened due to a security crackdown.

Yemen has seen a surge in small attacks on government buildings and foreign embassies in recent weeks.

In April, an al Qaeda-linked group said it fired three mortar rounds at a complex housing Americans and other Westerners in Sanaa. No one was hurt.

The attack was aimed at expelling infidels from the Arabian Peninsula, home to Islam's holiest sites, it said.

In March, a school near the U.S. embassy was hit by mortars injuring 13 girls and five Yemeni soldiers in an attack Washington said was aimed at its mission.