A top al-Qaeda ideologue vowed revenge on Monday for the killing of Osama Bin Laden by United States forces, in the first jihadist admission of the militant leader’s death.
The prominent commentator, going by the online name “Assad al-Jihad2,” posted on extremist websites a long eulogy for Bin Laden and said the Islamic holy war against the West was far from over.
“Woe to his enemies. By God, we will avenge the killing of the Sheik of Islam,” he wrote. “Those who wish that jihad has ended or weakened, I tell them: Let us wait a little bit.”
Militant websites with links to al-Qaeda regularly post long interviews with al-Jihad2 on the protocols of waging holy war. He is also often used to resolve questions of doctrine.
“The battle between us and international tyranny is long and will not be stopped by the martyrdom of our beloved one, the lion of Islam,” said al-Jihad2, whose own online name means lion of jihad. “How many martyrdom seekers have been born today?”
US forces raided Bin Laden’s heavily guarded compound in a suburb of Pakistan’s capital late on Sunday, killing him, his son, a woman and two others.
The death of Bin Laden marks a triumph of the US in its long struggle against al-Qaeda which began long before the September 11 attacks with the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa that killed 231 people.
Revenge attacks could come from the vigorous al-Qaeda franchises existing in the tribal areas of Pakistan, southern Algeria and especially Yemen — which hosts one of the most active anti-US branches.
US President Barack Obama announces the death of Bin Laden:
The Yemen group sent a suicide bomber on a US-bound airliner on Christmas 2009 and nearly detonated explosives aboard two US cargo planes last fall. Those operations were carried out without any direct involvement from Bin Laden.
While most analysts believe Bin Laden had long ago turned over the day-to-day operations of the extremist network to his lieutenants, he remains an inspirational and charismatic figure to jihadists around the world.
“The weight of Sheik Osama is equal to that of the whole United States,” said al-Jihad2 in his eulogy.
“Which country managed to attack the Pentagon? Which countries managed to send the most powerful country in the world into decline? The one who did that is a nation called Osama bin Laden,” he said. — Sapa-AP