15 Mar 2009

Bin Laden accuses Arab leaders of anti-Muslim conspiracy

1:59 pm on 15 March 2009

The Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, has accused conservative Arab leaders of plotting with the West against Muslims. He has urged his followers to prepare for jihad, in a recording posted on Islamist websites.

The tape mentions Saudi Arabia and Egypt and contains a poem honouring Gaza's resistance to Israel's three-week offensive in December and January.

Osama bin Laden wants a list drawn up, warning Muslims about "enemies, hypocrites and their media".

He singled out the BBC and United States and Saudi funded Arabic-language television stations in Iraq and Saudi Arbia.

More than 60 messages have been broadcast by bin Laden, his second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri and their allies since the 11 September attacks in New York in 2001.