Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden warned Sunnis in Iraq not to take up arms against his men and promised the "liberation of Palestine," in a new online message. In the 56-minute tape released late Saturday, he also accused the United States of seeking to control the region through the Iraqi government.
He singled out Iraqis fighting against Al-Qaeda, and the Islamic Party of Iraq, a political group allied with the government, saying their supporters are traitors to Islam, AFP said. Bin Laden said those fighting Al-Qaeda, known as "Awakening" councils, have "betrayed the nation and brought shame and scandal, that will be followed by damnation forever unless they repent."
He urged Muslims to rally behind the leader of Al-Qaeda's umbrella group in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.
Bin Laden labelled any Muslim cooperating with the US-led Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as an apostate, and accused the United States of seeking to set up a separate Iraqi government through which to access oil. The Iraqi government had "agreed to having large American bases on Iraqi land and giving the Americans all the Iraqi oil they may wish," he said.
Bin Laden vowed the "liberation of Palestine," saying the mujahedeen would never recognise Israel nor any Palestinian government that does so and warning of "jihad from river to sea... blood for blood and destruction for destruction."
He also slammed Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah for allowing "crusader" troops from the United Nations into Lebanon after its 34-day war with Israel last year.
