Al-Qaida confirmed the killing of Osama bin Laden and vowed revenge, saying Friday that Americans’ “happiness will turn to sadness.” The statement was the first by the terrorist network since its leader was slain in a U.S. raid on his Pakistani hideout.
The statement, written in typical al-Qaida style and in the name of the organization’s General Command, seemed mostly intended to reassure followers that the terrorist group remains intact.
The statement was dated Tuesday, the day after bin Laden’s death. Its authenticity could not be independently confirmed, but it was posted on militant Web sites Friday by the al-Fajr Center, al-Qaida’s online media distribution network.
“The blood of the holy warrior sheik, Osama bin Laden, God bless him, is too precious to us and to all Muslims to go in vain,” the statement said. “We will remain, God willing, a curse chasing the Americans and their agents, following them outside and inside their countries.
“Soon, God willing, their happiness will turn to sadness,” it said. “Their blood will be mingled with their tears.”
The confirmation by al-Qaida should remove doubt among all but the most die-hard conspiracy theorists that bin Laden is, in fact, dead.
Earlier Friday, hundreds of members of radical Islamic parties protested in several Pakistani cities against the U.S. raid. Many chanted “Osama is alive” and blasted the U.S. for violating the country’s sovereignty.
The need to provide proof was behind arguments that the U.S. should release a photo of the slain terrorist leader. President Barack Obama has chosen to withhold the photo.
The statement also opens the way for the group to name a successor to bin Laden. His deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, is now the most prominent figure in the group and a likely contender to take his place.
“Sheik Osama didn’t build an organization to die when he dies,” the statement read. “The university of faith, Quran and jihad from which bin Laden graduated will not close its doors,” it added.
Bin Laden’s leadership: The wealth of information pulled from bin Laden’s compound has reinforced the strong role he played in planning and directing attacks by al-Qaida and its affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, senior U.S. officials said Friday.
And the data further demonstrate to the U.S. that top al-Qaida commanders and other key insurgents are scattered throughout Pakistan, not just in the rugged border areas, and are being supported and given sanctuary by Pakistanis, a senior defense official said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials have debated how big a role bin Laden and core al-Qaida leaders were playing in the attacks launched by affiliated terrorist groups, particularly al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, and al-Shabab in Somalia.
Information gathered in the compound, officials said, strengthened beliefs that bin Laden was a lot more involved in directing al-Qaida personnel and operations than sometimes thought over the last decade. And it suggests bin Laden was “giving strategic direction” to al-Qaida affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, the defense official said.
Bin Laden’s first priority, the official said, was his own security. But the data show that he was far more active in providing guidance and telling affiliated groups in Yemen and Somalia what they should or should not be doing.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.