Al-Qaeda network requested Muslims living in the West to participate in jihad “in enemy territory”, announced the U.S. center for monitoring Islamist websites, ICT, referring to a new video of the terrorist network, produced after the death of Osama bin Laden.
The video, consisting of two parts, lasts one hour and 40 minutes, and, among those who addressed Muslims in the West, Ayman al-Zawahiri, a network leader, and the American Adam Gadahn, a spokesman for the terrorist organization, are included.
Muslims living in the West “are perfectly placed to play a decisive role in the jihad against the Zionists and the Crusaders”, Gadahn said, according to the transcript published by ICT.
“In the United States, the Muslims can without difficulty procure automatic weapons without having to present identification”, he said. “It is important to weaken the warlike passions of those coward enemies, targeting influential public figures in the media, Zionist and Crusader governments and economies,” said Gadahn.
ICT states that the recording, entitled “You are only responsible for yourselves”, was produced by As-Sahab, the media organization of al-Qaeda network.
The message was published on Islamist forums on Thursday and opened with images of Osama bin-Laden with al-Zawahiri, while holding a speech criticizing the occupation of Muslim countries by the Western states.
ICT believes that the record was produced after the death of bin-Laden – May 2 – killed in an U.S. raid in Pakistan – because his picture is surrounded by the words “Allah have mercy on him.”