Al Qaeda Leader Calls for Attacks in the West Posted: January 22, 2009

Al Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi has called for attacks in the West in retaliation for what he called the Israeli “annihilation campaign” in Gaza.

In the video message, which was posted on Web sites commonly used by Islamic militants on January 22, 2009, and titled “Palestine… Now the Fighting is Fierce,” Libi blamed Britain for creating the state of Israel, claiming they are responsible for any “child who dies in Palestine.”  Libi also urged Muslims to strike America so that they “taste the bitterness of war and tragedies of homelessness and the misery of horror.”

“Mujahideen everywhere…do what you can to make the infidel capitals of the West and America and the Arab Tyrants taste what our brothers and weak folks in Palestine have been tasting,” Libi said.

In addition to calls for attacks on the West, Libi also praised the series of devastating coordinated terror attacks in Mumbai, India, which killed over 170 people and wounded approximately 300 in November 2008.  Calling the gunmen in the attack “heroes,” Libi called on Muslims to “do as the lions of Mumbai did by spilling their own pure blood and delivering themselves to Allah, striking a blow to the enemy's heart.”

Libi escaped from prison in Bagram, Afghanistan in July 2005, and has released several statements on behalf of Al Qaeda since his escape, especially messages that threaten attacks on Europe. For example, in May 2006 Libi called on Muslims to attack Denmark, Norway and France for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed earlier in the year.