Al-Qaida urges jihadis to go to Somalia

WASHINGTON, March 26 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida has urged Islamic extremists around the world, especially in the information sphere to aid Islamic militias in Somalia.

In a new video released at the weekend by the group's official media arm, the as-Sahab Institute, Abu Yahya al-Libi, a prominent al-Qaida leader called on "my Muslim brothers to stand with their brothers (in Somalia) and go forth to fight at their side."

"All the things which make jihad an individual duty are present in their battle against the Abyssinian occupiers and their apostate lackeys," he said about the situation in Somalia, a reference to the Ethiopian military that in December ousted the Islamic Courts Union, the Islamic militia coalition that had controlled most of the country.

Al-Libi's comments in Arabic were translated in English subtitles by as-Sahab. The material quoted came from a transcript provided by IntelCenter, a private sector consultancy that tracks Islamic web sites for U.S. government agencies.

Al-Libi said the mujahedin, or Muslim holy warriors, should not make distinctions based on the legal or strategic claims of the occupying forces.

"Light a fire and make a volcano erupt under the feet of the invading occupiers regardless of their creed and their cover, and whether they invaded your country on the back of tanks and with the power of iron and fire, as Nazarene Ethiopia did, or came to you under the cloak of international legitimacy, Security Council resolutions, peacekeeping forces, or the African Union," he said.

Al-Libi made what he called "a special request" of the mujahedin "on the information front-line," whose contribution, "incitement to fighting," was, he said, "among the most honorable of devotions and loftiest of acts of obedience."