There are around 5,600 Web sites around the globe dedicated to spreading al Qaeda’s message with 900 more popping up each year according to a Saudi researcher.

“Research shows there are more than 5,600 sites on the Internet promoting the ideology of al Qaeda,” Khaled al-Faram told the Information Technology and National Security conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

“There are some 900 news sites appearing every year, and despite the retreat of some media outlets specifically run by al Qaeda, extremist Web sites are constantly on the rise.”

He said it was a challenge to track most of the sites and that in some cases al Qaeda sites change addresses to escape detection or launch somewhere else if the have been compromised.

Faram was speaking at a conference put together by the Saudi intelligence agency to get the public involved more with the government and share ideas on how to patrol the Internet for militant activity.

“The real battle with al Qaeda is no longer on the ground, but rather a media battle, and it is a real threat to national security,” Faram told Reuters. “For al Qaeda media coverage is more important than the actual operations,” he said.

Analysts say al Qaeda has moved from a tight militant group to a brand that promotes radical ideas for sympathizers to act on independently.

“The Internet, chat lines, text messages — these are the new warriors,” said Alessandro Zanasi, an expert on Internet monitoring known as “text mining”.