Saudi scholars lend support to militants fighting US-led forces

Prominent Saudi religious scholars have declared support for militants fighting US-led forces in neighbouring Iraq, saying jihad against occupiers was a duty.

The 26 preachers and scholars said Muslims in Iraq should unite to expel the "colonial alliance" from their country, in a statement posted on the Internet on the eve of an expected US assault on the militant stronghold of Fallujah.

"There is no doubt that jihad against the occupiers is a duty for all who are able. It's a jihad to drive back the assailants," said the statement, dated November 5. The declaration was signed by influential Sunni scholars including Awad Al Qarni, Salman Al Awdah and Safar Al Hawali, all jailed in a clampdown on Islamists in the 1990s, but later released after muting their criticism.

US-led invasion of Iraq angered many in Saudi Arabia. Iraqi authorities said last month they had captured 24 suspected Saudi militants and diplomats say many more may have slipped across the border to fight.

Saudi authorities are waging battle against supporters of Osama Bin Laden, who have launched suicide bomb attacks against foreign residential compounds and shot dead several foreigners.

The statement did not explicitly call on Muslims to go to Iraq to wage war, but it did urge them to "stand by their brothers in Iraq". "... Those occupiers, there is no doubt they are warring aggressors and it is legitimate to fight them until they leave humiliated. Even earthly laws acknowledge the right of people to resist," it said.

"Resistance is a legitimate right, indeed a legitimate duty for the Iraqi people to defend themselves, their honour, land and oil."