Iraq's Qaeda pledges support to Zawahri, vows attacks

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Iraq's Qaeda pledges support to Zawahri, vows attacks

By Rania El Gamal | Reuters – 1 hour 42 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-linked militant group in Iraq pledged support to

the organization's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, and vowed more revenge

attacks for the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. forces in

Pakistan.

In a statement posted on an Islamist website forum on Monday, the caliph of the

Islamic State of Iraq (ISC), Abu Baker al-Baghdadi al-Husseini al-Qurashi,

mourned bin Laden's death.

" I tell our brothers in al Qaeda organization and on the top of them Sheikh

Mujahid Ayman al-Zawahri ... be merry, you have faithful men in the Islamic

State of Iraq who are following the right path and will not quit or be forced

out, " he said in the statement.

" I swear by God, blood for blood and destruction for destruction, " he said in a

clear reference to revenge attacks for bin Laden's death.

Zawahri, an Egyptian-born doctor who met bin Laden in the mid-1980s when both

were in Pakistan to support guerrillas fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, has

long been considered al Qaeda's deputy leader.

ISI is believed by intelligence analysts to have been created by al Qaeda in

Iraq as a local umbrella group for insurgent organizations.

Iraq's army and police have been on high alert for revenge attacks since bin

Laden's killing by U.S. commandos in Pakistan. Iraq became an important

battlefield for al Qaeda after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Security officials have said bin Laden's death earlier this month may have

little practical impact on al Qaeda in Iraq, a weakened but still deadly

Islamist insurgency that could launch strikes for the next decade.

Al Qaeda in Iraq may seek immediate revenge for the killing of the world's most

wanted man but in the long run probably will be more a thorn in the Iraqi

government's side than a destabilizing force, security officials said.

Thursday, a car bomber killed more than 20 people and wounded 80 at a police

building in the mainly Shi'ite city of Hilla.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Louise Ireland)