The leader of an al-Qaeda branch in Yemen has warned that jihad will become more ‘intense and harmful’ following the killing of Osama bin Laden by US commandos.
The warning from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has come as US Senator John Kerry announces a trip to mend fences with a resentful Pakistan, where Bin Laden was gunned down, but also to seek answers on how he came to be there.
Pakistan has seen the first possible violent reaction to Bin Laden's death, as drive-by attackers threw grenades at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Karachi, the country's biggest city.
Nasir al-Wahishi, leader al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), said in a statement posted on an Islamist Internet site that the ‘ember of jihad is brighter’ following the 2 May death of Bin Laden, US-based monitoring group SITE said.
‘Do not think of the battle superficially ... What is coming is greater and worse, and what is awaiting you is more intense and harmful,’ Wahishi said, according to a translation given by SITE.
He warned Americans not to fool themselves that the ‘matter will be over’ with the killing of Bin Laden.
The US has become increasingly concerned about the threat posed by Islamist militancy in Yemen, Bin Laden's ancestral homeland, and has warned of the potential for the country to become a regrouping ground for al-Qaeda.
Four days after Bin Laden was killed in a US commando raid on his Abbottabad compound, about two hour's drive from Islamabad, a US drone attack targeted US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi in southern Yemen.
The cleric, whom the US says has strong links to al-Qaeda, survived the attack in southern Yemen but two AQAP members were killed.
In January 2009, the Saudi and Yemeni al-Qaeda branches announced their merger to form the Yemen-based AQAP, which later went on to claim a failed attempt to bomb Detroit-bound US airliner in December 2009.
Meanwhile, three Pakistani lawmakers offered prayers for Bin Laden in parliament a week after US commandos killed the al-Qaeda leader in a covert raid near the capital.
‘Bin Laden was an international figure and above all a Muslim... I took it as my religious duty to offer prayers for him,’ said Maulvi Asmatullah, who led the prayers in the lower house of parliament yesterday.
The independent lawmaker from southwestern province Baluchistan said he was joined in the prayers by Laiq Muhammad Khan and Atta-ur-Rehman from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party, which was in government until late 2010.
US President Barack Obama yesterday carefully wove the killing of Bin Laden into the political pitch he is beginning to make to voters for a second White House term.
Analysts have speculated for days over the impact on Mr Obama's prospects of the high-risk covert raid by special forces deep into Pakistan which resulted in the al-Qaeda leader's death.
In a fundraising event in Texas, Mr Obama introduced the killing of Bin Laden for the first time in his political rhetoric.
‘Because of the extraordinary bravery of the men and women who wear this nation's uniform and the outstanding work of our intelligence agencies, Osama bin Laden will never again threaten the United States of America.’
Earlier in Mr Obama's speech, a man shouted from the crowd to the president: ‘Thank you for getting Bin Laden.’
Obama replied: ‘It should inspire us to finish what we started.’
Two fundraising events for Mr Obama's presidential campaign in Texas charged supporters between $44 and $35,800 for tickets.
