Al Qaeda calls for attacks inside United States

EDITOR'S NOTE: REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY CONTENT THE VIDEO FROM WHICH THIS STILL IMAGE WAS TAKEN. Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri speaks from an unknown location, in this still image taken from video uploaded on a social media website June 8, 2011. REUTERS/Social Media Website via Reuters TV

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged small-scale attacks inside the United States to "bleed America economically", adding he hoped eventually to see a more significant strike, according to the SITE monitoring service.

In an audio speech released online a day after the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 strikes, Zawahri said attacks "by one brother or a few of the brothers" would weaken the U.S. economy by triggering big spending on security, SITE reported.

Western counter-terrorism chiefs have warned that radicalized "lone wolves" who might have had no direct contact with al Qaeda posed as great a risk as those who carried out complex plots like the 9/11 attacks.

"We should bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security, for the weak point of America is its economy, which has already begun to stagger due to the military and security expenditure," he said.

Keeping America in such a state of tension and anticipation only required a few disparate attacks "here and there", he said

"As we defeated it in the gang warfare in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan, so we should follow it with ...war on its own land. These disparate strikes can be done by one brother or a few of the brothers."

At the same time, Muslims should seize any opportunity to land "a large strike" on the United States, even if this took years of patience.

The Sept 11, 2011 attacks, in which hijacked airliners were flown into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington and a Pennsylvania field, triggered a global fight against al Qaeda extremists and their affiliates. Almost 3,000 people were killed in the attacks.

In his audio speech, Zawahri said Muslims should refuse to buy goods from America and its allies, as such spending only helped to fund U.S. military action in Muslim lands. He added that Muslims should abandon the U.S. dollar and replace it with the currency of nations that did not attack Muslims.

Zawahri spoke approvingly of one of the worst attacks on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001, the bombing of the Boston Marathon in April, which U.S. authorities say was carried out by two ethnic Chechen Muslim brothers. The attack killed three people and injured 264.

Zawahri sought to paint the bombing as part of al Qaeda's violent transnational campaign of jihad or holy war against U.S. interests, even if it was relatively small-scale.

"The Boston incident confirms to the Americans ... that they are not facing individuals, organizations or groups, but they are facing an uprising Ummah (Muslim community), that rose in jihad to defend its soul, dignity and capabilities."

"What the American regime refuses to admit is that al Qaeda is a message before it was an organization," he said.

Zawahri, suspected by many security specialists to be living in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area, added that the al Qaeda message simply was that if Muslims wanted to live in dignity and "be liberated", then they had to defend their dignity.

(Reporting by William Maclean; editing by Mike Collett-White)

Al-Qaida chief calls for attacks inside U.S.

Ayman al-Zawahri urges small-scale attacks inside the United States to "bleed America economically."
Message timed to 9/11 anniversary

Afghan Taliban attack US Consulate, kill 2 Afghans

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban militants unleashed car bombs at the U.S. Consulate in western Afghanistan on Friday morning, triggering a firefight with security forces in an attack that killed at least two Afghans. The U.S. said all its personnel from the mission were safe and that American forces later secured the site.

The attack in the city of Herat — along with a suicide truck bombing in the country's east that wounded seven Afghans — underscored the perilous security situation here as U.S.-led troops reduce their presence ahead of a full withdrawal next year. It was also a rude return to reality for Afghans who had spent a day and a half celebrating their nation's first international soccer championship.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi took responsibility for the Herat attack in a phone call with The Associated Press. Afghan and U.S. officials, meanwhile, offered slightly different accounts of what happened — differences which could not immediately be reconciled.

According to Gen. Rahmatullah Safi, Herat province's chief of police, the attack began around 6 a.m. when militants in an SUV and a van set off their explosives-laden vehicles while others on foot fired on Afghan security forces guarding the compound in the city, 1,000 kilometers (625 miles) from Kabul.

An Afghan police officer and an Afghan security guard were killed, though it was not clear whether they died in the explosions of the two vehicles or in the gunfire, Safi said. At least seven attackers were killed, including the two drivers of the explosives-laden vehicles, he said, and several people were wounded.

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Smoke rises near the U.S. consulate after an attack by a car bomb and a gunfight in Herat Province, …

U.S. State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement that the assault began around 5:30 a.m., when "a truck carrying attackers drove to the front gate, and attackers — possibly firing rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles — started firing at Afghan forces and security guards on the exterior of the gates. Shortly after, the entire truck exploded, extensively damaging the front gate."

Rafi said U.S. special forces entered the area to secure the compound, and that no attackers managed to breach it. Harf's statement said "American security personnel" were among the response team, and added that "it appears American and contract security personnel addressed any attackers who managed to enter the compound."

Robert Hilton, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, said that "all consulate personnel are safe and accounted for."

Footage broadcast on Afghanistan's Tolo television network showed Afghan police dragging away a badly bloodied man from the scene, but it was unclear if he was dead or who he was. Rubble and twisted pieces of metal lay strewn in a seemingly wide area near the consulate, the footage showed.

U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham issued a statement condemning the attack.

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Afghan security personnel investigate the site of a suicide car bombing and a gunfight near the U.S. …

"Afghan civilians and Afghans on contract to the consulate were also killed or injured," Cunningham said, without giving any figures. "We are deeply saddened by this senseless loss of life, and our prayers go out to the victims and their families. We hope for the speedy recovery of those injured."

Herat lies near Afghanistan's border with Iran and is considered one of the better developed and safer cities in the country, with a strong Iranian influence. Most of the violence in Afghanistan has been concentrated in the east and the south.

The U.S. Consulate is located in a relatively sparsely populated part of the city, and the attack took place on Friday, a day of rest.

The other attack on Friday morning took place in eastern Paktika province's Sar Hawza district, said Mokhlis Afghan, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Police recognized the vehicle was dangerous and shouted at the driver to stop but he ignored them. Police then opened fire, and the bomber detonated the explosives, causing a powerful blast, the spokesman said.

Four police were wounded as were three members of the Afghan national army, he said. The road was badly damaged, and windows on nearby buildings were shattered.

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U.S.-led troops investigate the site of a suicide car bombing and a gunfight near the U.S. consulate …

Paktika province lies along the border with Pakistan, and Taliban and al-Qaida affiliated militants are active in the region.

Friday's attacks came in the wake of nationwide celebrations after the Afghan soccer team won the South Asian Football Federation Championship on Wednesday. The win produced a rare moment of national unity in this ethnically divided country, and euphoric Afghans of all backgrounds had poured into the streets to express their joy over the victory.

Militants set off two car bombs and engage in a gunfight outside the American consulate in the city of Herat.
2 Afghan officers killed

'Overwhelming' signs of chem arms use in Syria: Ban

UN experts will give "overwhelming" confirmation that chemical weapons were used in Syria, UN leader Ban Ki-moon predicted Friday, as he blasted President Bashar al-Assad as a war criminal.

Ban did not say that Assad's forces carried out a suspected chemical arms attack near Damascus investigated by UN experts. But he said the Syrian leader has "committed many crimes against humanity."

A UN team is expected to send its report on the August 21 attack to Ban on Monday. The UN leader stressed that he still does not have the report.

But he predicted: "I believe the report will be an overwhelming report that the chemical weapons were used."

Ban also gave a UN estimate that 1,400 people were killed in the August 21 attack at Ghouta, east of Damascus, which led to western threats of a military strike on Assad's forces.

UN inspectors were in Syria to investigate the general use of chemical weapons in the country's 30-month-old conflict when the suspected sarin gas attack took place.

The United States, Britain and France blame Assad for the attack. The Syrian government, backed by Russia, say opposition rebels used the banned gas.

UN investigation leader Ake Sellstrom is expected to send his report to Ban on Monday. Sellstrom is not allowed to say in the report who carried out the attack.

Diplomats say however that details, such as the type of chemical and missile involved, could indicate who carried out the attack.

If the report is delivered Monday, Ban is expected to brief the UN Security Council within hours on its findings.

While US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are discussing a plan to put Syria's chemical arms under international control, the Security Council's permanent members are discussing a possible resolution on the crisis.

Ban has stepped up criticism of the Security Council for its failure to act over Syria. But he has never hidden his disdain for the tactics used by the Syrian leader in a civil war in which well over 100,000 people have died.

In his new outspoken attack, Ban said that Assad must face "accountability" as part of any political solution to end the conflict.

"What happened is that he has committed many crimes against humanity. Therefore, I'm sure that there will be surely the process of accountability when everything is over," he said.

Ban said last year that Assad had "lost all humanity".

His latest comments came after a UN inquiry said Wednesday that government forces had committed "widespread" killings and torture of civilians.

But Ban stressed that the top priority must be "to help the fighting stop and dialogue, talking begin."

In parallel to Ban's comments, the UN humanitarian chief raised concerns about access to areas around Damascus where hundreds of thousands of people are trapped by the fighting.

"People are unable to leave sealed-off government or opposition-held areas, sometimes for months on end, and have run short of water, food, power and medicines," said Valerie Amos.

"I am extremely worried by reports that more than 500,000 people remain trapped in rural Damascus."

Amos said there were "very disturbing reports" about Moadamiyet al-Sham, near Damascus.

"It is reported that the town has been besieged for the last 10 months, suffering daily shelling and armed clashes between government and opposition groups," the head of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

Amos said UN agencies have been unable to get supplies into the town for nearly a year. Most of the 70,000 people in the area have fled, but some 12,000 people remain trapped and there are cases of severe malnutrition among children, the UN said.

Amos said the UN has taken $50 million from its emergency finances to bolster the depleted fund to get supplies to people inside Syria and help the more than two million people who have fled to neighboring countries.

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