The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Washington

Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden warned Muslims against supporting Iraq's US-backed government and promised the "liberation of Palestine," in a new online message issued Saturday. In the 56-minute tape, the hunted militant accused the United States of seeking to control the region through the Iraqi government, according to SITE, a US-based institute that monitors extremist web forums. He singled out Iraqis fighting against Al-Qaeda in Anbar province, and the Islamic Party of Iraq, a political group allied with the government, saying that Muslims supporting it are traitors to Islam, the monitor said in a report. "The group is assisting the Americans in Iraq" and "fighting against the mujahideen" Islamist warriors, Bin Laden said, according to an excerpt translated from the Arabic by SITE.

The message came in the form of a video displaying a still image of him along with an audio commentary.

Bin Laden labeled any Muslims cooperating with the US-led Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as apostates, and accused the United States of seeking to set up a separate Iraqi government through which to access oil.

He also said that with Islamist mujahedin fighters currently engaged in Iraq, the "liberation of Palestine" will follow, adding the mujahedin would never recognize Israel nor any Palestinian government that accepts a Jewish government, including one led by the Hamas Islamist movement.