Brother of al-Qaida leader sanctions violence against West

The brother of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri on Wednesday sanctioned violence against the West in retaliation for the French-led campaign against militants in Mali, saying the U.S. and Europe are “making jihadists.”

Thursday, January 24, 2013

The brother of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri on Wednesday sanctioned violence against the West in retaliation for the French-led campaign against militants in Mali, saying the U.S. and Europe are "making jihadists.”Mohammed al-Zawahri, one of Egypt’s most influential jihadi leaders, made his comments in an interview with The Associated Press in Cairo, in the wake of the bloody four-day hostage crisis in Algeria, in which al-Qaida-linked militants seized a gas plant in retaliation for the campaign in Mali"All Muslims have the right to stop this aggression by any means,” he said of the French-led military intervention. "This barbarism, aggression and brutality ... according to Shariah, we have to confront it.”"They (the West) are making jihadists,” he added. The four-day confrontation that began when al-Qaida-affiliated militants stormed the remote desert natural gas complex in Ain Amenas and took hostages early Wednesday. The militants threatened to blow up the entire complex, and Algerian troops finally ended the crisis with a ground assault.