Al-Qaida chief slams movement's 'peaceniks'

Al-Qaida’s chief ideologue and strategist, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has published a 212-page book on militant Islamic websites slamming his former radical colleagues in Egyptian prisons for disavowing armed struggle and turning their backs against violence.

The book, released on websites yesterday, is the latest salvo in an intellectual war between the ideological founders of al-Qaida and Islamic militancy, many of whom are have become disillusioned with the suicide bombings and attacks on civilians that have become the hallmark of the movement.