Al-Qaida deputy leader threatens new attack on US

AL-QAIDA deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called US President George W Bush a “butcher” and threatened a new attack in the US in a videotape aired on Arab television yesterday, his first appearance since an airstrike that targeted him this month in Pakistan.

Al-Zawahri, shown in the video wearing white robes and a white turban, said the US had ignored an offer from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for a truce. The video was aired on the Arab news network Al-Jazeera.

Speaking in a forceful and angry voice, he said he had a message "to the American people, who are drowning in illusions. I tell you that Bush and his gang are shedding your blood and wasting your money in frustrated adventures".

"The lion of Islam, Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, offered you a decent exit from your dilemma. But your leaders, who are keen to accumulate wealth, insist on throwing you in battles and killing your souls in Iraq and Afghanistan and God willing on your own land," he said.

The video came in the wake of a January 19 audiotape by bin Laden in which he warned that al-Qaida is preparing attacks in the US but he offered a truce "with fair conditions" to build Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tape aired on Al-Jazeera was the first message from bin Laden in over a year.

In the video, Al-Zawahri said the January 13 US airstrike in Pakistan killed "innocents" and said he had a message for "the butcher of Washington".

"Bush, you are not only defeated and a liar but, with God's help and might, a failure. You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies," he said.

"Bush, do you know where I am? I am among the Muslim masses," he said.

The airstrike hit a building in the eastern Pakistan village of Damadola, killing four al-Qaida leaders.

Thirteen villagers were also killed in the strike.