Under new leader, al Qaeda issues hit list

[Geee]

Washington Times:

Osama bin Laden’s longtime top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, has assumed command of al Qaeda, and a website associated with the terrorist group is calling on “lone wolf” agents to target and kill 40 prominent Americans at their homes in the U.S.

The list prompted the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to issue an intelligence bulletin to law enforcement agencies nationwide and to notify the U.S. officials, business and political leaders, think tank executives and defense contractors targeted on the “hit list.”

On Thursday, jihadist websites declared al-Zawahri’s promotion and promised to continue attacks on the United States, Israel and other countries that support them, prompting the top U.S. military officer to vow that al-Zawahri will be captured or killed like bin Laden.

“We seek with the aid of God to call for the religion of truth and incite our nation to fight by carrying out jihad against the apostate invaders with their head being crusader America and its servant Israel, and whoever supports them,” said the statement by al-Zawahri, as translated by the Al-Jazeera news agency.

An Egyptian surgeon, al-Zawahri brokered the June 2001 merger of al Qaeda and his own terror group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which was responsible for the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

As the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda, al-Zawahri helped plan the Sept. 11 attacks and was responsible for the terrorist group’s contingency plans after the attacks and for arranging safe haven for the group’s leaders in Pakistan and Iran.

In addition, he is suspected of planning the suicide bombing of Egypt's embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, in 1995 and of helping plan the attack that killed 67 foreign tourists in Luxor, Egypt, in 1997.