Bin Laden deputy slams Tehran for purporting Israel behind terror attacks on US, says Shiite rule Iran trying to discredit Sunni group's 'successes'
Osama Bin Laden's chief deputy in an audiotape Tuesday accused Shiite Iran of trying to discredit the Sunni al-Qaeda terror network by spreading the conspiracy theory that Israel was behind the Sept. 11 attacks.
The comments reflected the increasing criticism by al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri against Iran, which al-Zawahri has accused in recent messages of seeking to extend its power in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and through its Hizbullah allies in Lebanon.
Al-Zawahri spoke in a two-hour audiotape posted on an Islamic militant Web site, in which he replied to hundreds of questions submitted on the Internet by al-Qaeda sympathizers. One of the questioners asked about the theory that has circulated in the Middle East and elsewhere that Israel was behind the 2001 suicide airplane hijacking against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Al-Zawahri accused Hizbullah's Al-Manar television of starting the rumor. ''The purpose of this lie is clear - (to suggest) that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no else did in history. Iranian media snapped up this lie and repeated it,'' he said. Read more ...
The comments reflected the increasing criticism by al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri against Iran, which al-Zawahri has accused in recent messages of seeking to extend its power in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and through its Hizbullah allies in Lebanon.
Al-Zawahri accused Hizbullah's Al-Manar television of starting the rumor. ''The purpose of this lie is clear - (to suggest) that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no else did in history. Iranian media snapped up this lie and repeated it,'' he said. Read more ...
Source: AP
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