New bin Laden tape due

AN ISLAMIST website said yesterday it would carry a new recording from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden about “foiling plots” in Iraq.

The website said the 56-minute recording would also be about the Islamic State in Iraq, an al-Qaida-linked group in the country.

It did not say when the video or audio recording, produced by al-Qaida’s media arm As-Sahab and entitled “The Path to Foiling Plots in Iraq,” would be posted.

“May God expose the cover-up by Al Jazeera, the channel of the infidels,” said the web site.

It was not clear whether this meant bin Laden would speak about a controversy in which his supporters have accused the channel of misrepresenting his comments on Iraq.

Some Islamists have said Al Jazeera misrepresented bin Laden’s views by airing excerpts of comments he made in October that insurgents had made mistakes in Iraq because of fanaticism.

While the Iraqi wing of al-Qaida remains at the forefront fighting US forces and the Shi’ite-led government supported by Washington, its fighters have faced opposition in the Sunni areas of Iraq where they operate.

Angered by attacks against Iraqis who fail to follow their hardline interpretation of Islam, Sunni tribes are turning against the al-Qaida militants.

An increase in US troops, more efficient Iraqi security forces and neighbourhood patrols have been credited with a decline in violence in the past two months.