Al-Qaida group video glorifies Bin Laden

An al-Qaida front group broadcast a video in Iraq today showing dozens of masked men singing religious and patriotic songs and brandishing automatic weapons as they praised Osama bin Laden and the leader of the Taliban.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group that includes the terror network, included footage with excerpts from old speeches by the al-Qaida leader and al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who died a year ago on Thursday in a US airstrike north-east of Baghdad.

The songs praised jihad, or holy war, as well as bin Laden and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar, who are believed to be in hiding in the mountainous border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Our leader bin Laden, with power of faith, made America tremble .. Our Emir Mullah Omar .. We destroyed America .. Baghdad, the cradle of esteem, is calling on us .. Hurry up to head for paradise . We are the soldiers of God,” the militants chanted.

Most were wearing ski masks, although a few left their faces uncovered. All brandished automatic weapons and the voices appeared to have accents from the Gulf region, not Iraqi.

One sang in Turkish with the Arabic subtitle “we will not retreat and will keep following this path .. God ordered us to unite .. You the faithful, hurry up to join jihad.”

The footage contained excerpts from old speeches of bin Laden, al-Zarqawi and Abdullah Azzam, considered bin Laden’s spiritual mentor who was killed in 1989 by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

One group was shown sitting inside a room, its walls seemed to be of clay, another was in the open with some trees around them and a third group was shown wearing camouflage fatigues also in the open.

One man delivered a speech toward the end of the tape, which lasted just over 51 minutes, saying “they fought us even though we did nothing wrong .. they demolished our houses ... they hurt our honour, but God is supporting us.”