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Al Qaeda video vows wider attacks in Mideast
New York Times News Service
Published September 12, 2006
Osama bin Laden's top deputy used the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks Monday to urge fellow Muslims around the world to take up arms against the United States, and warned of new attacks by Al Qaeda throughout the Middle East.
Dressed in a white robe and turban and seated in front of shelves filled with books, Ayman al-Zawahiri said American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were "doomed to defeat" and pledged that the U.S. military would be expelled entirely from its bases in the Persian Gulf region.
Al-Zawahiri criticized America's military support for Israel during the country's recent war with Hezbollah, and he called on the Muslim world "to rush with everything at its disposal to the aid of its Muslim brothers in Lebanon and Gaza," according to a full transcript of the video provided by the SITE institute, which tracks violent Islamist groups.
Al-Zawahiri said that Al Qaeda would strike again in coming weeks, but he gave no indication of the type of targets or specific locations.
"The days are pregnant and giving birth to new events with Allah's permission and guidance," al-Zawahiri said in the video, during which he is asked a series of questions by an anonymous interviewer.
Running more than an hour, the video, broadcast on CNN and posted on the Internet, was unusually long compared with previous videos released by As-Sahab, Al Qaeda's clandestine media production arm based in Pakistan.
Terrorism experts in Washington were examining the interview on Monday to find any coded messages that al-Zawahiri might be sending to his followers.
New York Times News Service
Published September 12, 2006
Osama bin Laden's top deputy used the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks Monday to urge fellow Muslims around the world to take up arms against the United States, and warned of new attacks by Al Qaeda throughout the Middle East.
Dressed in a white robe and turban and seated in front of shelves filled with books, Ayman al-Zawahiri said American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were "doomed to defeat" and pledged that the U.S. military would be expelled entirely from its bases in the Persian Gulf region.
Al-Zawahiri criticized America's military support for Israel during the country's recent war with Hezbollah, and he called on the Muslim world "to rush with everything at its disposal to the aid of its Muslim brothers in Lebanon and Gaza," according to a full transcript of the video provided by the SITE institute, which tracks violent Islamist groups.
Al-Zawahiri said that Al Qaeda would strike again in coming weeks, but he gave no indication of the type of targets or specific locations.
"The days are pregnant and giving birth to new events with Allah's permission and guidance," al-Zawahiri said in the video, during which he is asked a series of questions by an anonymous interviewer.
Running more than an hour, the video, broadcast on CNN and posted on the Internet, was unusually long compared with previous videos released by As-Sahab, Al Qaeda's clandestine media production arm based in Pakistan.
Terrorism experts in Washington were examining the interview on Monday to find any coded messages that al-Zawahiri might be sending to his followers.
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