The terrorist network al-Qaeda on Friday confirmed the death of its leader Osama bin Laden earlier this week and vowed that the United States would never enjoy safety, DPA reported.
"The mujahid (holy warrior), pious, migrant Sheikh Abu Abdullah Osman bin Mohamed bin Laden was killed," al-Qaeda said in a four-page statement in Arabic, released via online jihadist forums.
"You lived thankful and died a martyr."
US President Barack Obama this week announced that US commandos had killed bin Laden during a raid on a house early Monday in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Al-Qaeda warned: "America, including those who live in it, will never enjoy safety."
"We call on our Muslim brothers in Pakistan, on whose land Sheikh Osama was killed, to rise up and cleanse themselves of this disgrace ... and to rise up to cleanse their country of the Americans who wreaked corruption upon it," the statement said.
US President Barack Obama was due to visit later Friday with US troops at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, including the legendary 101st Airborne Division and, privately, some of the special forces soldiers who participated in the raid on bin Laden's secret compound.
"He is meeting with some special operators who were involved in that, but that is all I can say," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One, flying to the central US ahead of the troop visit.
Carney said that the White House was "aware of" the al-Qaeda statement, noting that it acknowledged "the obvious - which is that Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday night (Washington time) by US forces."
In response to the new, unspecified threats, Carney said: "We're quite aware of the potential for activity and are highly vigilant on that matter for that reason."
He insisted that Obama would not be "gloating" in the speech to troops, even if the soldiers themselves might be in a celebratory mood.
"The point he will make is that, while the successful mission against Osama bin Laden was an historic and singular event, it does not by any means mean that we are finished with the war against al- Qaeda," Carney said. "The fight goes on."
Although the al-Qaeda statement could not be independently verified, it was similar in tone and wording to the group's past statements, written in formal Arabic. It referred eight times to various verses from the Koran.
The statement said that an audio message recorded by bin Laden a week before his death would be released soon.
Obama has decided against releasing photos of bin Laden's body over concerns the images could incite violence or retribution against US military personnel and citizens abroad.
...