A recent report by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said that al-Qaeda in Maghreb was driving a global resurgence of the terrorist organisation and had the potential to launch large-scale attacks.
Cairo, 20 Sept. (AKI) - In a new 80-minute video released on Islamist websites on Thursday, Al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, calls for the "cleansing" of the "sons of Spain and France" in north Africa.
In the video the al-Qaeda leader said Muslims in the north African Maghreb region should restore al-Andalus - the Arabic name given to parts of the Iberian peninsula under Muslim rule during the 8th century.
"Restoring al-Andalus is a trust on the shoulders of the nation in general and on your shoulders in particular, and you will not be able to do that without first cleansing the Muslim Maghreb of the children of France and Spain, who have come back again after your fathers and grandfathers sacrificed their blood cheaply in the path of God to expel them," he said.
"Stand with your sons, the mujahadeen, against the crusaders and their children."
Al-Qaeda's wing in north Africa, known as al-Qaeda in the Maghreb claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks in Algeria earlier this month.
A recent report by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said that al-Qaeda in Maghreb was driving a global resurgence of the terrorist organisation and had the potential to launch large-scale attacks.
In the video entitled "The Power of Truth" al-Zawahiri also said that the United States was being defeated in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.
"What they claim to be the strongest power in the history of mankind is today being defeated in front of the Muslim vanguards of jihad six years after the two raids on New York and Washington," al-Zawahiri said.
He was speaking in what appeared to be an office, with shelves of religious books and an automatic rifle leaning against them.
