[NYTr] Iraq: Bin Laden urges insurgents to unite

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

NBC News - Oct 22, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21422874/

Bin Laden urges insurgents to unite

‘Beware of division,’ al-Qaida leader tells insurgents

NBC News and news services

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden called on insurgent groups in Iraq to
unify their ranks in an audio recording aired by Al Jazeera television
on Monday.

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

The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be confirmed, but
the voice resembled that of bin Laden in previous messages. Al-Jazeera
did not say how it obtained the tape.

A senior U.S. intelligence official told NBC News that the general
theme of the audio message — unification of insurgent forces in Iraq —
was "nothing new" for bin Laden or his deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri. They
have called in the past for Sunni groups to stop attacking Shiites and
instead focus on the United States.

This breaking news report will be updated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.