Bin Laden issues Iraq message

22/10/2007| IslamWeb

Osama Bin Laden has called on fighters in Iraq to unite and stand shoulder to shoulder in a new audiotape.

In the tape broadcast by Al Jazeera on Monday, a voice sounding like bin Laden admitted that mistakes have been made in Iraq and exhorted the fighters to rectify them.

"Some of you have been lax in one duty, which is to unite your ranks," bin Laden said. "Beware of division ... The Muslim world is waiting for you to gather under one banner."

In the audio recording, entitled "a message to the people of Iraq", bin Laden called on tribal leaders and the leaders of armed groups to initiate an agreement between the different groups.

"The interest of the Islamic nation surpasses that of a group," he said.

"The strength of faith is in the strength of the bond between Muslims and not that of a tribe or nationalism..."

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Osama Bin Laden