CAIRO, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The al-Qaida terrorist network has joined forces with an Egyptian Islamist group, al-Qaida's No. 2 leader said in a videotaped announcement.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, said Gamaa Islamiya was now the Egyptian affiliate of the global al-Qaida network, CNN reports.
Jemaah Islamiyah is a militant Egyptian Islamist movement dedicated to the overthrow of the Egyptian government and replacing it with an Islamic state.
Its leader is blind cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, accused of conspiring to bomb New York's World Trade Center in 1993. He was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to bomb New York landmarks, including the United Nations and FBI offices. Gamaa Islamiya has threatened to retaliate against the United States unless Rahman is released from prison.
"May God give us victory with his help," CNN quoted the Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri as saying in his videotaped message, which aired Saturday on al-Jazeera TV.
