Al-Qaeda is preparing a new attack in the United States on the scale of September 11 after adopting a new operational structure which is impenetrable to US intelligence, a Saudi weekly reports in its Friday edition.

"Future missions have been entrusted to the new team, which is well protected against the US intelligence services. The old leadership does not know the names of any of its members."

Bin Qais mocks concerns expressed by Washington about a possible al-Qaeda attack on its consulate in the Pakistani metropolis of Karachi, saying the network's target is the United States itself. "Striking it is not a priority for al-Qaeda compared with the plans under way preparing a new attack in the United States on the scale of September 11."

The purported message from al-Qaeda scoffed at recent press reports that US agents are hot on the trail of its leader Osama bin Laden, whose whereabouts has been a mystery since the ouster of his Taliban sponsors in Afghanistan in late 2001.