New al-Qaida tape calls on Afghans to fight US

Al-Qaida’s number two has issued a new videotape calling on Afghans to rise up against US and other coalition forces.

The video by Ayman al-Zawahri – his sixth this year – was reported by IntelCenter, the Egypt and US-based anti-terrorism intelligence contractor to the US government.

“I am calling upon the Muslims in Kabul in particular and in all Afghanistan in general, and for the sake of God, to stand up in an honest stand in the face of the infidel forces that are invading Muslim lands,” al-Zawahri said in the tape.

“I direct my speech today to my Muslim brothers in Kabul who lived the bitter events yesterday and saw by their own eyes a new proof of the criminal acts of the American forces against the Afghani people,” he said.

Al-Zawahri appeared to be referring to violent anti-US protests that broke out in the Afghan capital on May 29 after a US military truck crashed into traffic. The video appears to have been made the day after.

In the video, al-Zawahri appears wearing a white turban and sitting in front of a black backdrop with an automatic rifle next to him, according to IntelCenter. The firm did not say how it obtained the video.

The new message is part of a dramatic increase in videos and audiotapes by al Qaida.

Al Qaida’s leader Osama bin Laden has issued three tapes this year, along with six from his deputy, the Egyptian-born al-Zawahri.

Bin Laden and al-Zawahri are believed to be hiding along the mountainous Pakistan-Afghanistan border.