Dubai, 17 Sept. (AKI) - Al-Qaeda released the third 9/11 video on Islamist websites on the internet on Monday.

The 26-minute video is a montage of audio and video footage showing previous messages by al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri on the reasons behind the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Al-Qaeda released Osama bin Laden's first video in three years on 9 September. A second message was then made available on the sixth annivesary of the 9/11 attacks. The second message featured a still image of bin Laden with a voice praising Waleed al-Shehri, one of the 9/11 hijackers. There was also footage of al-Shehri, speaking about his motivation for the attack.

Monday's video, the third on the 9/11 anniversary, is different from previous al-Qaeda footage as it does not carry the logo of al-Sahab - the logo is known to refer to al-Qaeda's communications arm. The video instead carries a new logo, al-Tanzim.

Entitled, "The attacks in New York and Washington - reasons and motives", the video begins with a message from Abu Yahya al-Libi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Al-Libi, who escaped from the US detention centre in Bagram in 2005, praises the role of Osama bin Laden's network in defending the principles of Islam.

A voice on the video also gives an account of the war in Chechnya, blames the West for having committed a mass extermination and calls for revenge for this action.

Also included is footage of interviews carried out by the Arab satellite TV network, Al Jazeera, with university professors, Arab commentators and editor of the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper.

The video ends with a speech by an ideologue of Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam.

The entire video describes various events that occured before the 9/11 attacks, in particular the conflict in Chechnya, and tries to explain the reasons behind the terror attacks.