Bin Laden vows revenge on "infidel" Musharraf

By Lin Noueihed

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has vowed to retaliate against "infidel" Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for the killing of a rebel cleric and a raid on his mosque in July, in a Web audiotape issued on Thursday.

"We in al Qaeda organisation call on God to witness that we will retaliate for the blood of ... Abdul Rashid Ghazi and those with him against Musharraf and those who help him, and for all the pure and innocent blood," said the speaker on the recording who sounded like bin Laden.

"So Pervez, his ministers, his soldiers and those who help him are all accomplices in spilling the blood of ... Muslims. He who helps him knowingly and willingly is an infidel like him," bin Laden said.

"It is obligatory (under Islam) for Muslims in Pakistan to carry out jihad and fighting to remove Pervez, his government, his army and those who help him," he said.

More than 100 of Ghazi's followers were killed in an assault on the Lal Masjid, a mosque and school complex. The group is sympathetic to the Taliban, who were removed from power in Afghanistan by U.S.-led forces.

Bin Laden's audiotape, issued by al Qaeda's media arm As-Sahab, was part of a 23-minute video which carried an English translation of his remarks and showed old footage of him and other figures of his movement. The tape could not be authenticated, but it was posted on the main Islamist Web sites.

Earlier on Thursday, al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to fight the United States and its allies around the world, in a new video.

Marking the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Zawahri said: "Stand, o nation of Islam, under the victorious banner of the Prophet ... and campaign against the crusader banner of (U.S. President George W.) Bush.