Al-Qaida release new tape

Al-Qaida’s Number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, has issued a new video tape calling on Muslims to unite in jihad, or holy war, and support the Islamist movement in Iraq, a US-based intelligence monitoring group said today.

Al-Zawahri is seen in the one-hour and 35 minutes tape dressed in white and addressing a wide array of topics from Iraq to Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian territories and Egypt, said the US-based SITE intelligence group, which monitors al-Qaida messages.

The group said it had obtained the tape ahead of its release on the internet by militant web sites, and issued a transcript of al-Zawahri’s speech.

The authenticity of the transcript could not be immediately verified.

In the tape, al-Zawahri encouraged Iraqis and Muslims in general to show greater support to the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida insurgent front in the country, despite it lacking “necessary qualifications”, the SITE group quoted al-Zawahri as saying.

“The first thing which our beloved brothers in Iraq must realize is the critical nature of unity,” al-Zawahri was quoted as saying in the tape’s transcript released by SITE.

An internet site deemed close to al-Qaida’s leadership had announced earlier today that “good news” would be coming soon.

The flashing red banner was interpreted by several other Islamist web sites as a sign that Osama bin Laden would issue a new message soon.

It was not immediately clear whether it was in fact referring to his deputy’s new tape.