Al-Qaeda issued new threats against Denmark in an internet video released on Friday, saying an attack on the Danish Embassy in Pakistan is just the start of its retaliation for perceived insults to the Prophet Muhammad.
The internet video featured senior al-Qaeda leader Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, who was reported to have been killed last month. The compilation was dated August 2008, although it was made up of segments recorded at various dates.
The video profiled a suicide bomber who it said carried out a June 2 attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad, which killed six people, in response to the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by Danish newspapers.
”We have warned previously, and we warn once more, the crusader states which insult, mock and defame our Prophet and the Qur’an in their media and occupy our lands, steal our treasure and kill our brothers that we will exact revenge at the appropriate time and place,” said Abu al-Yazid.
”The Danish embassy [attack] and prior operations is but the beginning … if you don’t end your errant ways and aggression,” the Egyptian militant leader added in the video, posted on Islamist websites.
A senior Pakistani security official said on August 12 that Abu al-Yazid, also known as Abu Saeed al-Masri, was killed in clashes with Pakistani forces near the Afghan border.
The 54-minute video, entitled ”The Word is the Word of the Swords” and styled as a documentary about attacks against Islam by Western ”Crusader” nations and by corrupt Muslim leaders, was issued by al-Qaeda’s media arm, As-Sahab.
”My final message to the worshippers of the cross in Denmark is that, God permitting, this is not the first nor the last act of revenge,” the young suicide bomber said as he stood next to a small car presumably used in the attack.
”Sheikh Osama bin Laden and the mujahedin will not leave you alone,” said the young man, identified as a Saudi militant.
The video showed militants preparing explosives to pack the car and said the group decided to attack the embassy when it was closed to the public to avoid killing civilians.
Abu al-Yazid, commander of al-Qaeda’s operations in Afghanistan, had served time in jail with al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri after the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. — Reuters