Saudi Qaeda idealogue sets rules for oil war-Web

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda has advised followers to attack pipelines in Saudi Arabia and Iraq but to steer clear of oil wells because they are the lifeline of Muslim states, according to a two-year-old document recently posted on the Web.

The guidelines in al Qaeda's war against "crusaders" and U.S.-allied governments were laid out in a manifesto written by Abdulaziz al-Enezi, arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2005 and described by the Saudis as a prominent ideologue of al Qaeda.

In the manifesto, which was recently posted on an Islamist Web site, Enezi said disrupting oil supplies was the best way to hurt the U.S. economy and destabilise the Saudi royal family.

It said Saudi state-owned refineries and oil pipelines and Iraqi facilities were "all in the hands of infidels."

"It is permissible to target oil interests held by infidels ... including American and Western oil tankers," Enezi said.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, has since 2003 been battling al Qaeda militants bent on toppling the pro-U.S. monarchy and expelling Westerners from the birthplace of Islam.

Al Qaeda claimed a foiled suicide attack on an oil facility last week in the kingdom and vowed more attacks in response to a call by al leader Osama bin Laden to target oil installations.