Qaeda vows to avenge bin Laden with blood, tears

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]



DUBAI: Al-Qaeda Friday confirmed the death of its leader Osama bin Laden but warned that those rejoicing his killing would have their ‘blood mixed with tears,’ while vowing the jihadist network would live on.

The group said in an Internet statement posted on jihadist forums that bin Laden being killed by US forces was ‘not a shame’ and insisted the Americans had failed to eliminate what he stood for.

"We in Al-Qaeda organisation pledge to Allah the Almighty and ask his help, support and steadfastness to continue on the path of jihad, the path walked upon by our leaders, and on top of them, Sheikh Osama," the statement said, according to a translation by US monitoring group SITE.

It said that "the blood of the mujahid Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may Allah have mercy upon him, weighs more to us and is more precious to us and to every Muslim than to be wasted in vain."

Al-Qaeda said it will also soon release an audiotape of bin Laden recorded a week before he was killed by US commandos in Pakistan. The tape included "congratulations, advice and guidance" to popular Arab revolts against autocratic rule.

"(We call upon them) to rise up strongly and in general to cleanse their country (Pakistan) from the filth of the Americans who spread corruption in it," said the statement. "So if the Americans were able to kill Osama, this is not a shame or stigma. "Soon -- with the help of Allah -- their happiness will turn to sorrow, and their blood will be mixed with their tears.

"Can the Americans with their media, agents, machinery, soldiers, intelligence and agencies kill what Osama lived (for) and that for which he was killed?. No way, no way. Osama did not build an organisation that would die with his death and go away with his departure."

Al-Qaeda neither named a new leader in the message nor discussed how the network would choose a replacement for bin Laden.

The statement itself was signed only by the "General Command" of Al-Qaeda.

SITE said the statement was apparently crafted on May 3, the day after bin Laden's assassination, but was not posted on the Internet until three days later, apparently as the group sought confirmation of the killing.

According to SITE director Rita Katz, "Without naming a new leader and apparently written very shortly after bin Laden's death, Al-Qaeda seems to be asserting to its followers and the world that it is an organisation that is larger than any single man." (AFP)