Al-Zawahri warns UK of more attacks

He also warned the United States that al-Qaida would continue to launch deadly attacks until US troops quit all Muslim countries.

“Blair’s policies brought you destruction in central London and will bring you more destruction … ,” al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy, said in a tape aired on Aljazeera.

Truce offer

“What you have seen in New York, Washington and Afghanistan, are only the initial losses and if you (United States) continue the same hostile policies you will see what will make you forget those horrors,” he said in reference to the 11 September 2001 attacks.

Zawahri said the London bombs were a result of Blair’s policies

He said bin Laden had offered a truce to Western countries asking them to pull out their armies from Iraq and Afghanistan in order to live in peace.

“To the people of the crusader coalition … our blessed Shaikh Osama has offered you a truce so that you leave Muslim land. As he said, you will not dream of security until we live it as a reality in Palestine, and until all your infidel armies leave Prophet Mohammad’s lands,” he said.

“Our message to you is clear, strong, and final: There will be no salvation until you withdraw from our land, stop stealing our oil and resources, and end support for corrupt rulers,” al-Zawahri added.

Vietnam comparison

Zawahri, who in the footage appeared to be standing outside with an assault rifle at his side, also warned the Americans of horrors worse than the war in Vietnam.

“The Americans… will see horror that would make them forget the horror they saw in Vietnam,” he said.

“The truth that (President George) Bush … hides from you is that there is an exit from Iraq except through immediate withdrawal. Any delay will mean only more dead and losses.

“If you do not leave today, you will inevitably leave tomorrow,
but only after (you suffer losses) of tens of thousands of dead and many more injured.”