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".