(AFP) Al-Qaeda confirmed the death of its leader Osama bin Laden, in a statement posted on jihadist internet forums on Friday, the US monitoring group SITE Intelligence reported.
The statement came after US President Barack Obama said on Sunday that American commandos killed bin Laden in a covert operation in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, early Monday Pakistan time.
“We in al-Qaeda organisation pledge to Allah the almighty and ask his help, support and steadfastness to continue on the path of jihad, the path walked upon by our leaders, and on top of them, Sheikh Osama,” SITE said, quoting the statement.
“We also stress that the blood of the mujahid Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may Allah have mercy upon him, weighs more to us and is more precious to us and to every Muslim than to be wasted in vain,” it said.
“We call upon our Muslim people in Pakistan, on whose land Sheikh Osama was killed, to rise up and revolt to cleanse this shame that has been attached to them by a clique of traitors and thieves who sold everything to the enemies.
“(We call upon them) to rise up strongly and in general to cleanse their country (Pakistan) from the filth of the Americans who spread corruption in it,” said the statement.