Al-Qaida Warns Bin Laden will ‘Terrify’ U.S. from Beyond the Grave
Al-Qaida’s number two has issued a chilling warning to the West saying that Osama bin Laden will continue to “terrify” the U.S. and its allies from beyond the grave.
Ayman al-Zawahiri’s message has been posted on Jihadist websites five weeks since the killing of bin Laden, and is the first time that al-Zawahiri has spoken publicly about his leader’s death.
The statement also comes just a week after Ilyas Kashmiri, a potential successor to bin Laden, was killed in a U.S. drone strike.
The video lasted for 28 minutes, most of which is a eulogy to the late bin Laden.
Al-Zawahiri said, “The sheikh has departed, may God have mercy on him, to his God as a martyr and we must continue on his path of jihad to expel the invaders from the land of Muslims and to purify it from injustice.”
He added: “Today, and thanks be to God, America is not facing an individual or a group, but a rebelling nation, which has awoken from its sleep in a jihadist renaissance.”
The video message also condemns the U.S. for burying bin Laden’s body at sea.
In shorter messages, al-Zawahiri urged for Egypt to apply Sharia Islamic law.