Al-Qaida confirms bin Laden death, vows revenge
By Erika Solomon, AFP May 6, 2011 7:29 AM
WASHINGTON - The al-Qaida terror network confirmed the death of its leader Osama bin Laden Friday and swore revenge for his killing by elite U.S. commandos, the SITE monitoring group reported.
In a statement posted on jihadist Internet forums, the Islamist group behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States said it would release an audio tape made by its Saudi-born founder a week before his death.
The declaration came ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama meeting members of the famed Navy SEALs team that killed bin Laden in Abbottabad in Pakistan, and as limited protests against the death were held in parts of the Muslim world.
"We in al-Qaida organization 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," SITE said, quoting the statement.
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".
The statement promised that America and those who lived in the U.S. "will never enjoy security until our people in Palestine enjoy it".
The statement specified the location of bin Laden's death and those responsible, and so is likely end to fringe conspiracy theories that were beginning to form about his demise, while it directly threatened Pakistan's leaders.
"We call upon our Muslim people in Pakistan, on whose land Sheikh Osama was killed, to rise up and revolt to cleanse this shame that has been attached to them by a clique of traitors and thieves who sold everything to the enemies."
It is not yet clear how far bin Laden's death is likely to affect al-Qaida's operational capabilities and its ability to follow through on its threats.
Intelligence found in bin Laden's compound revealed al-Qaida was considering a possible train attack at an unspecified location in the United States as a grim marker of this year's 10th anniversary of 9/11.
U.S. officials played down any imminent threat, describing the plot as "aspirational", but it may indicate that bin Laden remained more integral to the everyday running of al-Qaida than previously thought.
Some Islamists have claimed that his death would rally Muslims to his cause, but while protests were held in parts of the Islamic world following Friday prayers, they were limited in scale.
Analysts say it is a sign the al-Qaida founder has lost popularity, particularly among Arab youth who have swept some dictators from power with pro-democracy street protests in this year's Arab Spring.
Hundreds of people took to the streets in the insurgency-riven Pakistani city of Quetta near the Afghan border to chant "Long live Osama" and call for holy war against America.
In Abbottabad, the leafy garrison town where bin Laden was found and killed, about 1,000 men set tires on fire and blocked a main road, yelling: "Down, down USA!" and "Terrorist, terrorist, USA terrorist".
Pakistan's weak and fractured civilian government is widely unpopular among the country's population of 170 million, and seen as a lackey to the United States.
"If you want to save Pakistan, you will have to break the chains of American slavery," read one banner in Abbottabad.
But the gatherings were not as large as some people had expected after Pakistan's largest religious political party Jamaat-e-Islami had called for protests across the country to denounce the U.S. operation.
In the northwestern city of Peshawar some 400 people turned out, and a 300-strong rally was held in the central city of Multan.
A similar number rallied in the Egyptian capital Cairo, an AFP correspondent reported, while in Philippine capital Manila a few dozen worshippers joined a protest march to the U.S. embassy.
One of those who refused to protest, Abdul Maksood Dalupang, said: "The prophet Mohammed did not preach extremism. In case there is a jihad (holy war), Muslims are not allowed to kill the innocent, the women and children, nor should they destroy infrastructure."
Obama's meeting with the SEALS was to take place at the Fort Campbell army base in Kentucky, an official said, a day after he paid homage to the victims of al-Qaida's September 11, 2001, attacks at the site of the World Trade Center in New York.
The president "will have the opportunity to privately thank some of the special operators involved in the operation," the official said.
Amid heightened tensions with Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war in Afghanistan, Obama appears to be seeking to mark bin Laden's killing while avoiding accusations of triumphalism.
Thursday's ceremony at Ground Zero in New York was low-key and sombre: a remembrance of those nearly 3,000 fallen rather than a victory celebration, despite the momentous nature of the al-Qaida leader's death almost a decade after his attacks drove a wedge between the West and the Muslim world.
After days of questions in Washington over how the 9/11 architect found shelter under military noses, Pakistan's military has hit back with demands that the U.S. cut its troop presence in the country to a "minimum".
Pakistan's army chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani threatened Thursday to "review" co-operation in the event of another U.S. raid.
In a sign of complete U.S. distrust of its key ally, CIA chief Leon Panetta has said Washington had kept Islamabad in the dark about the raid for fear of the al-Qaida chief being tipped off.
Pakistan has admitted "shortcomings" in developing intelligence on bin Laden's whereabouts and ordered an investigation, but is fighting to allay suspicions that bin Laden had support from its military intelligence services.
The Pakistani police and army again barred world media from reaching bin Laden's house in Abbottabad — two hours' drive from the capital — on Friday, setting up checkpoints and deploying reinforcements.
The Obama administration has been forced to defend the raid's legality after acknowledging bin Laden was unarmed when he was shot dead.
The U.S. Navy SEALs who raided bin Laden's compound found an AK-47 and a pistol in his room, a U.S. official told AFP Thursday.
"He had weapons in his room, more than one," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He was not compliant. He did not surrender."
Giving more details of the raid after conflicting accounts from the White House, the official said the commandos encountered just one armed man at the compound — bin Laden's courier — who opened fire near the start of the nearly 40-minute operation.
U.S. media reported that the courier was killed along with his wife in a guest house adjacent to the main residence where bin Laden was hiding.
At the larger three-storey building, commandos shot and killed the courier's brother, who reportedly had one hand behind his back.
Making their way up the stairs, they saw bin Laden's son, who "lunged" towards them and was killed, the New York Times reported.
On the third floor, bin Laden was shot in the chest and head.
The official insisted the U.S. team faced an array of potential dangers, including that the al-Qaida mastermind and his comrades might be wearing suicide vests or have explosives planted ready to be triggered.
"It's important to see the context," he said.
"If you are going to a house where the people have been hostile, it's Osama bin Laden's house, and you see him in a room and he's not compliant — what would you do?"
© Copyright (c) AFP
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