Al-Qaida deputy praises al-Zarqawi in video

updated 5:40 p.m. ET June 9, 2006

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida’s No. 2 praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a videotape broadcast Friday but did not mention his death in a U.S. airstrike, suggesting the tape was made earlier.

Ayman al-Zawahri focused on political developments in the Palestinian territories, Sudan and Egypt in the tape broadcast by the Al-Jazeera network. The video is the sixth al-Zawahri has issued this year.

An Al-Jazeera anchorman said the tape was made before al-Zarqawi’s death was announced Thursday because al-Zawahri praised the al-Qaida in Iraq leader’s efforts to confront U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

“God bless the prophet of Islam in Iraq, the persistent hero of Islam, the holy warrior Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” al-Zawahri said.

He also sent greetings to the Shura Council of Mujahedeen in Iraq and insurgents, “who are confronting crusaders and their apostate aides and the merchants of religion.”

Appears to be authentic
The network did not say how it obtained the recording. It broadcast about six minutes of the approximately 17 minute-long recording, an editor there told The Associated Press.

The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be confirmed independently.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: “I know the intelligence community has done an assessment of the tape and confirmed it is Zawahri’s voice.”

A U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity while events were unfolding, said government experts were doing a technical analysis of the video, but there was no reason to doubt its authenticity.

The official noted that al-Zawahri does not make any threats against the United States in the message, and its content is reminiscent of other propaganda statements al-Qaida has made in attempts to appear relevant. References in the video suggest it was made no earlier than the end of May.

The tape is part of a stepped-up level of messaging from al-Qaida’s leadership, “higher than at any point in the group’s history,” said Ben Venzke, head of IntelCenter, a private U.S. company that monitors militant message traffic and provides counterterrorism intelligence services for the American government.

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