Al-Qa'ida urges attack on US

Al-Qa'ida's second-in-command urged Muslims to keep up attacks on the "criminal" United States and criticised US president-elect Barack Obama for promising to back Israel.

The US Homeland Security Department said the message by Ayman al-Zawahri, the first al-Qa'ida comment on Obama's election, held no indications of an increased threat to the US homeland.

Zawahri also warned Obama of failure should he pursue the policies of President George W. Bush, according to an audio tape posted on Islamist websites today.

The Egyptian militant also criticised Obama, born to a Muslim Kenyan father, for what he described as turning his back on his Muslim roots.

Zawahri attacked Obama as a "house slave", contrasting him with 1960s black American Muslim leader Malcolm X.

"You represent the direct opposite of honourable black Americans like ... Malcolm X," Zawahri said on the tape, which included video footage of Malcom X.

"The Muslim nation received with extreme bitterness your hypocritical...stance towards Israel," he said. "You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand with the enemies of Muslims."

An Obama spokeswoman in Washington said the president-elect's office was not planning to comment.

A US counterterrorism official said the message showed that al-Qa'ida - which masterminded the 11 September, 2001, attacks on the United States - was isolated but still a threat.

"The message...is remarkable chiefly as an additional sign that al-Qa'ida is out of touch with so much of the world," the official said.

Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Laura Keehner, asked if the message changed the department's assessment of the threat to the United States, said: "Not that I've seen. We maintain that there's no credible information to suggest there's an imminent threat against the homeland at this time."

During a visit to Israel in July, Obama assured Israel and its US Jewish supporters he was a friend who would not press for peace concessions that would compromise its security.

Hailing Israel as a "miracle", he promised staunch support and held only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank.

The audio recording was accompanied by visuals including a picture of Obama wearing a yarmulke.

"America, the criminal, trespassing crusader, continues to be the same as ever, so we must continue to harm it, in order for it to come to its senses," Zawahri said, addressing Muslims across the world.

"Its criminal, expansionist crusader project in your lands has only been neutralised by the sacrifices of your sons, the mujahideen," he said in an audio recording.

Zawahri urged Islamists fighting US forces and those of the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government to stay the course, saying that US-led forces were being routed.

"The American people, by electing Obama, declared their anxiety and fear about the future towards which the policy of the likes of Bush was leading them, and so they decided to support someone calling for withdrawal from Iraq."

In a similar message to Islamists fighting Ethiopian and government forces in Somalia, Zawahri urged them not to stop.

"America is gathering its wounds in Iraq, and Ethiopia is looking for a way out...don't put down your weapons before the mujahid state of Islam has been set up in Somalia."