North Africa: Al-Qaeda incites Egyptians and Tunisians against 'invaders'

Rome, 28 Feb. (AKI) - Al-Qaeda's second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged Egyptians and Tunisians to rise up against governments installed by the United States and to rebel against "the invaders", US terrorist tracking group SITE Intelligence reports.

It was Al-Zawahiri's third purported audio message released since pro-democracy uprisings in the past six weeks toppled Tunisa and Egypt's veteran leaders Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak.

The US had kept Ben Ali in power for decades and had only supported his ouster in mid-January when it became clear he had become a liability, said the message.

"However, the reins of the affairs remain with America's men, its agents and their soldiers..." the message added.

The message said the same was true of Egypt, where Mubarak stood down on 11 February after 18 days of mass protests during which nearly four hundred people were killed.

"Egypt will remain a base for the Crusader campaign and a primary partner in America's war on Islam under the name of war on terror, and protector of the southern border for the Zionist Entity (Israel)," said the message.

"Know that the road is still long in order to free our Ummah (Islamic community) from its whippers and its invaders," it added, appealing to "the free, honourable ones" in Egypt, Tunisia, and all Muslim countries.

Al-Qaeda's North African branch last Thursday posted a message pledging its support for the uprising in Libya against Gaddafi's "oppressive" 41-year rule, SITE reported. The message said it deplored "the carnage and the cowardly massacres" allegedly carried out by foreign mercenaries and heavy weaponry against Libyan protesters on behalf of Gaddafi .