Say yes to jihad, no to apostasy
Mauritania tops the list, as it “has become a nest of foreign intelligence topped by Israel’s Mossad.” More on this story.
“Qaeda calls for jihad in North Africa,” from AFP, September 22:
DUBAI (AFP) “” Al-Qaeda’s North Africa chief has called on Muslims there to join the jihad (holy war) and slammed governments in the region where the group has repeatedly claimed attacks, a US monitoring service said on Monday.
“Unite around the jihad that is the only alternative power to the apostate regimes that dominate over our lands,” Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), said in an audio speech posted on Sunday on Islamist militant websites, the SITE Intelligence Group said.
Abdul Wadud blasted the regimes in Mauritania, Algeria and other North African countries, charging that Mauritania has become “a nest of foreign intelligence” topped by Israel’s Mossad.
“Mauritania… has become a nest of foreign intelligence, at its forefront the Mossad, and has become a station of crusader colonial ambition,” he said, according to a SITE transcript.
“History will continue to mention that this is the first Arab country, outside of the Tawq (Arab nations surrounding Israel), that recognised the state of Israel and exchanged ambassadors with it,” he said.
SITE said the remarks came in a 29-minute video titled “A message to our ummah (nation) in the Islamic Maghreb.”
Abdul Wadud also claimed that former colonial power France continues to impose its authority in Algeria, using the Algiers government as a proxy.
Algeria is threatened not only by France, but also by the United States which seeks to install military bases there, he charged.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has repeatedly claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in Algeria, including a spate of bombings in July and August.
The group has also been blamed for an ambush on a Mauritanian patrol last week after which the decapitated bodies of 12 Mauritanians — 11 soldiers and one civilian — were found.
Meanwhile, “analysts” feel that “the threat of terrorism is being exaggerated.”