Bin Laden Aide Urges Attacks Against Westerners: Tape

"O Muslims, muster your resolve and hit the embassies of America, England, Australia and Norway, their interests, their companies and their employees … Set the ground ablaze under their feet… Kick these criminals out of your homelands.

The tape appeared to have been recorded during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, as Zawahiri made no mention of the recent bomb attacks against western targets in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, bin Laden’s birthplace.

The voice in the tape said enemies will not be forced out by protests and conferences, but rather they only know the “language of bloodshed”.

“The crusaders and the Jews only understand the language of murder, bloodshed. They can only be persuaded through returning coffins, devastated interests, burning towers and collapsed economies," the voice intoned, referring to New York’s World Trade Center towers which were razed by plane hijackers in September 11 attacks.

Zawahiri lashed out at Arab countries he said were helping the U.S. invasion of Iraq, naming Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen and Jordan, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Closing Embassies

Meanwhile, the United States, Britain, Canada and Germany have temporarily closed their embassies in Saudi Arabia in the wake of May 12 bombings against expatriate residential compounds in Riyadh that killed 34 people. The Riyadh bombings, which were followed by a series of similar attacks in Morocco’s Casablanca, have been also blamed on al-Qaeda.

The broadcast came one day after the United States raise terrorist threat level to orange, or high, after reports that al-Qaeda plans new attacks.

Analysts disputed that Zawahiri’s statements demonstrate that al-Qaeda claims responsibility for the Riyadh and Morocco attacks.

“There is no sufficient evidence in the tape putting blame of the two attacks on al-Qaeda,” Diyaa Rashwan, an Egyptian researcher in Islamic group affairs, told Al-Jazeera.

Hani al-Sebey, the director of al-Maqrizi Centre of Historic Studies, said the tape was recorded shortly after the fall of Baghdad and the U.S. forces rolling into the country.

Zawahri said: "O Iraqi people, we have defeated those crusaders several times before. Know that you are not alone in this battle. Your mujahideen (holy fighters) brothers are following the enemies as well and are lying in wait for them."

A U.S. intelligence official was quoted by Reuters as saying that the Central Intelligence Agency was analyzing the tape. The analysis would take some time because "the audio quality is not great," the official said.

Considered to be bin Laden’s right hand man, Zawahri is an Egyptian eye doctor who set up a group that tried to topple the Egyptian government in the 1990s.

Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which heightened anti-U.S. feelings in the Middle East, bin Laden urged Muslims to use all means to avert the conflict.