Osama declares decades of war on ‘powerless’ Obama

Islamabad, Sep 14 (ANI): Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has said that US President Barack Obama is “powerless” to stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a transcript of a tape released by the terrorist organization’s media wing.

Al Qaeda’s As-Sahab Media released a video featuring a still image of Osama and audio statement entitled “A statement to the American people,” said the organisation IntelCenter.

SITE Intelligence Group, a terrorist-monitoring firm that translated the address, says Osama blames the wars on the “pro-Israel lobby” and corporate interests.

IntelCenter, another company that monitors terrorist propaganda, reports that the 11-minute video is an address to the American people, two days after the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The group described the release as an address to the American public. Osama usually releases a statement around September or October each year, The Times reports.

In his last previous known message in June, Osama said US President Barack Obama had planted the seeds of “revenge and hatred” towards the United States in the Muslim world and warned of decades of conflict to come.

That audiotape aired on Qatar’s Al-Jazeera news channel less than an hour after Obama landed in Saudi Arabia.

Obama “has followed the steps of his predecessor in antagonizing Muslims… and laying the foundation for long wars,” Osama said in the June release, referring to deadly clashes in Pakistan between the US-backed government and Islamist militants.

“He gave his orders to (Pakistani President Asif Ali) Zardari and his army to prevent the people of Swat from applying Sharia (Islamic) law,” he said.

“Obama and his administration have sowed new seeds of hatred against America. Let the American people prepare to harvest the crops of what the leaders of the White House plant in the next years and decades,” said the Al-Qaeda leader. (ANI)

Suicide bomber kills 15, wounds 40 in western Iraq

Baghdad – A suicide bomber attack Thursday killed 15 people and wounded 40 in Iraq’s western Anbar province, al-Jazeera news channel said.

The bomber targeted a military base, the channel reported without giving further details.

Responsibility for security in majority Sunni Anbar province was handed over to Iraqi forces last September.(dpa)

At least nine killed in suicide attack in Iraq

Baghdad – A suicide attack in southern Iraq on Saturday killed at least nine members of a Sunni group aligned with US forces and injured 30 members of the group, the al-Jazeera news channel reported. A suicide bomber targeted the headquarters of the Iraqi army in al-Askandariyah city in Babil province, where he blew up himself among a gathering of Sahwa fighters, or members of Iraq’s so-called “Awakening Councils.”

The victims had been collecting their monthly wages at the time of the attack, according to al-Jazeera.

The number of casualties was expected to increase.

Awakening Councils consist of around 99,000 Sunni tribe members, who, repulsed by al-Qaeda’s killings of civilians, allied themselves with US forces. They have succeeded crushing al-Qaeda and expelling a large number of its fighters over the past few years.

Members of the councils have become a constant target for al-Qaeda attacks.

Babil is located 100 kilometres south of the capital Baghdad. US forces recently transferred control of the province to Iraqi security forces.