Al-Qaida urges Islamic state in Libya

AL-QAIDA’S new leader called on Libyan fighters who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi to set up an Islamic state and urged Algerians to revolt against their longtime president in an internet video posted yesterday.

Ayman al-Zawahri warned Libyan revolutionaries to protect their gains against “Western plots”, claiming NATO will demand they give up their Islamic faith as the country bids to set up a new government.

“The first thing NATO will ask you to do is to give up your Islam and not to implement Islamic Sharia law,” al-Zawahri said.