Shi'ites 'a danger' to Islam

2009-11-10 17:41

Dubai - A commander of an al-Qaeda-linked group warned Islam's majority Sunnis that the Shi'ites and Iran pose a greater "danger" to their religion than Jews or Christians, a US monitoring group said on Tuesday.

"We call on the nation ... to stand by [Sunnis] with whatever means they can against the danger of Iran and those who follow [the Shi'ite] faith in the region," Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Rashid of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said in an audio recording carried by SITE Intelligence group.

"Do you not see and hear the Huthis' aspirations in Yemen and their incursion against Sunnis?"

He was referring to Shi'ite Zaidi rebels, loyal to commander Abdul-Malek al-Huthi, who have been embroiled in a war with Sunni-ruled Yemen's army in the north of the country.

The Shi'ites "are being driven by a greed to take over Muslim countries and they are full of a wish to annihilate Sunnis," Rashid said. "Their threat to Islam and its people is much bigger than that from Jews and Christians."

He said the Shi'ite branch of Islam had helped facilitate the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. "The attack on the people of Islam in Afghanistan and Iraq ... was [perpetrated by] the Americans and their allies."

- SAPA