Al-Qa'ida unveils new English-language terror magazine

Resurgence magazine is thought to be part of a fresh drive to recruit Western jihadis

The Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is regarded as the most active wing of the al-Qa'ida network (AFP/Getty)

Al-Qa'ida has unveiled its plans for a new web-based, English-language magazine.

The launch of Resurgence was announced via a YouTube video uploaded by As-Sahab, the militant group’s media production house.

The footage combines images of George W Bush, American soldiers, and acts of terrorism, including scenes from the Boston Marathon bombings, with audio from a speech made in 1965 by the African-American Muslim leader Malcolm X. It includes the quote “talk the language that they understand”.

Security analysts believe the proposed publication is part of a renewed effort to recruit and inspire Western jihadis to carry out attacks on their home soil.

Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at Swedish National Defence College, told the Telegraph that the decision to use Malcolm X dialogue was significant.

“Its simplicity appeals in many ways. It focuses on the raw emotions of victimhood in the Muslim world which reinforces the al-Qa'ida narrative that the West is aggressively at war with Islam,” he said.

The use of English, he said, reinforced the idea it was directed at second and third generation immigrants as well as converts.

Evan Kohlmann, a terrorism analyst for NBC News, told the broadcaster that the magazine appears to have been influenced by Inspire, an English-language magazine reported to be published by the terrorist organisation in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Inspire, which features articles such as "How To Make A Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom", was allegedly the source of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s plans to build the pressure cooker devices that killed three people and injured around 264 others at the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013.

Al-Qa'ida's announcement comes at a time when the terrorist organisation has been devastated by drone strikes and the loss of its leader, Osama bin Laden, in May 2011.

The United States has stepped up drone strikes as part of a campaign against the militant group in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), regarded by Washington as the most active wing of the network.

On Thursday al-Qa’ida militants shot dead a man in southeastern Yemen for allegedly giving the United States information used to carry out drone strikes.