Al-Qaeda No. 2 Calls For Unity Among Muslims
Ayman al-Zawahri (file photo) (epa)
Al-Zawahri's message, his fourth this year, came in an audio recording found on militant Islamist websites today.
In it, al-Zawahri urged Muslims not to "hold animosties on the basis of tribalism and nationalism" but to work with "the helpers of Islam, even if they are Afghans, Persians, Turks, or Kurds." Al-Zawahri is an Egyptian Arab.
Al-Zawahri also mocked members of the opposition Democratic Party in the United States, saying it appeared they were "marching with [U.S. President George W. Bush] to the same abyss."
He also condemned the Palestinian Fatah movement, saying it should be fighting for the establishment "of an Islamic state over all of Palestine" and not for "a secularist state that will please America."
(AP, Reuters)