Al-Qaeda offers US head to Bush

2008-04-20 14:10

Dubai - A leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq has announced a one-month campaign in which the group will "offer the head of an American" as a gift to US President George W Bush, according to an audiotape made public on Saturday.

Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, better known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, made the announcement in a speech entitled, "The Paths to Victory," monitored by the Site Intelligence Group.

In the speech to Islamist forums, he said mujahedeen, or holy warriors, would "offer the head of an American as a gift to the deceitful Bush, in any manner (they) see fit".

The campaign, to be called "Attack of Righteousness," was announced in "celebration" of Bush announcing that 4 000 Americans had died in the war in Iraq.

'Real leader'

Masri is regarded by US commanders as the real leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq although the jihadist group constantly claims it is led by an Iraqi, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

US commanders say Baghdadi is a "cyber invention" and that he is a straw man invented to put an Iraqi face on a terrorist group led by foreigners who infiltrated Iraq to sow chaos and undermine the US-backed government.

Egyptian-born Masri, reportedly an expert bomb maker, was named leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq in June 2006 following the death of his better-known Jordanian predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in an American air strike.

- AFP