DUBAI – An Islamist group that calls itself the “Brigade of the Two Holy Mosques” has warned it will “liquidate” anyone who passes on information to the Saudi authorities to help the kingdom capture armed extremists.

The warning, published on the Islamist Internet site www.qal3al.org, comes just days after Saudi Arabia named 26 “terror suspects,” mostly Saudis, and posted financial rewards for information leading to their arrests.

“We are warning anyone who cooperates with the authorities or gives the tyrants information leading to the arrest of one of the mujahedeen (Islamic activists in Saudi Arabia). He will be liquidated,” said the statement, which was signed by “Brigade of Death for Special Operations”

The group also threatened to “inflict a deterrent punishment on the person who denounced the martyr Ibrahim Al-Rais.” Rais, one of the 26 suspects, was killed Monday in clashes with security forces in Riyadh.

This is the second public statement within a week by the previously unknown group, after it threatened to “cleanse” Saudi Arabia of anyone who has helped the United States.

“Whoever helps the infidels or spies on Muslims is an apostate,” the group continued in its latest statement, using the term for people who renounce their religion.

“The Brigade of Death is committed to continuing the jihad (holy war) against the apostates,” it said.

The Saudi authorities, battling to prove their credentials in fighting terror, have offered rewards of up to 1.9 million dollars for anyone who prevents an attack or gives information leading to the arrest of one of the suspects.

In recent months, they have stepped up efforts to clamp down on terror, following attacks on residential compounds in Riyadh in May and November that killed a total of 52 people.

The group’s name refers to the mosque of Mecca and the mosque of the prophet in Medina, both in Saudi Arabia, which are the two holiest sites of Islam.