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In a new audio statement aired by the al Jazeera Arab news channel on Wednesday, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused President Barack Obama and his administration of “panting new seeds of hatred and vengeance towards America” by supporting the military operations against militants in Pakistan.

“The number of these seeds equates that of those who have suffered and been made homeless in the Swat valley and the tribal areas in northern and southern Waziristan, as well as those who sympathize with them,” he added.

Al Qaeda’s leader compared President Obama’s policies to those of his predecessor President George W. Bush and said they created “more enmity towards Muslims” and “paved the way for new long wars.”

“Let the American people prepare to continue harvesting what their White House leaders grow, in the years and decades to come,” he added.

Bin Laden’s statement comes a day after al Qaeda’s number two Ayman al Zawahri said President Obama was not welcomed in Egypt, where he is expected to address Muslims on Thursday.

Bin Laden also accused Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari of receiving his orders from President Obama and claimed one million Muslims, including elderly people, women and children, had to flee their homes because of the operations in the valley.

The Popular Iranian Resistance Movement, which is most commonly known by its name Jundullah, denied in an internet statement that any of the three men executed by the Iranian regime had anything to do with the bombing of Zehdan mosque last Thursday - an attack which the group had taken credit for. The statement indicated that only one of the three men was connected to the group, but had no link with the group’s military activities.

In retaliation for the death of the three men, the group urged Baluchis and Sunnis to execute all settlers in Baluchestan. “We hereby urge all Baluch youths to execute all settlers present in baluchestan, and we shall offer a reward for anybody who kills a settler.”

In its first reaction to reports about ex-U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad’s appointment to a key post in the upcoming Afghan administration, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Khalilzad was Afghan “only by name.” Mujahed accused Khalilzad of working as a spy for the CIA for over 40 years.

“We remind our citizens once again, that the elections have already been held in Washington in advance, and they will choose the person who is more committed to implementing Obama’s strategy,” said Mujahed in the interview that was published on the Taliban’s website. He added that Khalilzad was married to a Jewish woman and headed an organization that was hostile to Islam.

Mujahed claimed Khalilzad would be the one with real control over the country, would not need parliament approval for decisions and current Afghan President Hamid Karzai would be reporting to him.

Finally, he called on Afghanis to support the Taliban “in achieving the country's independence and solving problems in a realistic manner.”

A former Jihad member and head of the London based al Maqreze centre for Historic Studies claimed he had information from “trusted sources” in Libya that senior al Qaeda operative Ibn al Sheikh al Libi (Ali Abd al Aziz al Fakhiri) was killed by his Libyan captors and did not commit suicide as they claimed.

Libyan authorities announced on May 10, 2009, that Al Libi had committed suicide in his prison cell.

Ibn al Sheikh al Libi was a Libyan paramilitary trainer for al Qaeda. He ran al Qaeda’s Khaldan camp in Afghanistan and was captured by Pakistani officials at the end of 2001 or beginning of 2002 as he attempted to flee Afghanistan following the U.S. invasion.

After being captured and interrogated by U.S. and Egyptian forces, the information he gave was cited by the Bush Administration in the months preceding the 2003 invasion of Iraq as evidence of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

The leader of The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) Abu Omar al Baghdadi released a new audio statement today, proving that he was not in the custody of the Iraqi military as was claimed.

“Everyone was shocked at the lies of the rulers of the Baath party palaces in the green zone and they once again claimed that they arrested me in Baghdad,” said the man, who sounded like al Baghdadi. “They even produced the photograph of a man who has been tortured. We don’t know where they got this photograph from, nor who this man was,” he added.

The Iraqi military spokesperson Major General Qassim Atta had announced on April 23rd that al Baghdadi was captured by the army in Rasafa after weeks of surveillance. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the news, but Atta held a press conference in Baghdad the next day, and presented a photograph of a man in his late thirties, claiming it was of al Baghdadi.

In 17-minute audiotape released by the group’s media wing al Furqan, al Baghdadi seized the opportunity to stress on the deceitful ways of “rejectionist rulers” and urged Sunnis never to trust or believe them. He assured them of victory and urged fellow militants to pursue their offensive called “Harvest of the Goodness.” He also appealed to Iraqi Sunnis to take part in jihad or provide support to the militants.

A coalition of four Iraqi insurgent groups reassured in an audio statement released to mark the seventh anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq the decline in the number of insurgent attacks was not a sign that they were giving up.

The increase and decrease of operations is something that is subject to the tactics and evaluation of the group,” the voice on the tape said. “Jihad has not stopped for a single moment,” the voice claimed.

The four groups, the Jihad and Change Front, the Army of the Mujahideen, the Iraqi Jihadi Brigades, and the Army of al Fateheen, pledged to continue their fight against U.S. forces until the last U.S. soldier is out of Iraq.

Radical Islamic cleric Abu Qatada issued a long statement from his prison cell in the top British security prison of Long Martin where he lashed out at the British government for what he said was an unjust treatment and prosecution of Muslims. His statement, which was widely distributed on a number of militant Islamist Internet forums and chatrooms, may have come as a reaction to the decision to back Abu Qatada’s deportation to Jordan.

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The militant Palestinian group Hamas announced today on al Qassam’s website that the “occupation was very close to meeting Hamas demands” and that a deal to release the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was therefore now closer than ever.

Hamas’ sources said that the Israeli side has approved the list of the Palestinian prisoners to be swapped for Shalit, and that the deal could be announced any minute.

A member of al Faloja militant Islamist Internet forum going by the name Sabran Ya Nafsi posted a message on today requesting from the jihadi media outlets of As Sahab, al Furqan, and al Tibyan to translate their materials into English and other languages in order to reach militant Islamist groups’ supporters in the west.

“I have returned a few months ago from a trip to an ‘infidel’ European country where I met with brave believer youths. They praised the brothers in al Tibyan, and those in charge of al Firdaws English forum,” the blogger said, “They said that if it wasn’t for those two, none of the jihadi materials would’ve reached them.”

The member recounts that one of the men he met during his trip asked him to convey an urgent request to the jihadi media organizations, that is to translate into English, some of the most important jihadi literature, such as the “Call for the Islamic Global Resistance” by Mostafa Set Mariam who is known as Abu Mus’ab al-Suri. “We heard a lot about this book, but couldn’t found a translated copy,” the man said.

The militant Afghani Taliban movement said in an Internet statement today that Wednesday's attack on the jJustice ministry in Kabul was a "message to Obama and all intruding Crusaders." The group pledged tocarry out more such attacks in the future.

The statement gave more details about the operation, saying that 16 men from the "al Hamza" commandoes brigade carried out the attack on the orders of Taliban leader Mullah Omar to avenge the execution of Taliban prisoners at Kabul 's Pul-e-Charkhi prison during the celebrations of the Muslim feast of Eid-ul-Adha last December.

According to the statement, the attack began when a suicide bomber identified as Mullah Abdullah blew himself up at the gate of the prisons directorate in northern Kabul, thus enabling another Taliban member identified as Mullah Hafez Omar to enter the building and detonate his explosives belt into a group of army generals on the third floor.
Shortly after that, another member called Abdelfattah first opened fire on the guards positioned outside the ministry of justice, not far from the presidential palace, then carried out a suicide attack, said the statement.

Mullah Moussa Kleim, the leader of the operation, Mullah Assadullah, Hafez Muazullah and Mulawi Ahmed, all went inside the ministry, added the statement. The group claimed they were all killed after a fierce gun battle that lasted three hours, where "dozens" of Afghan security guards and ministry personnel were killed. From the 16 fighters who took part in the attack, the Taliban said eight returned safely to their base.

Finally, the Taliban also claimed that over 100 people, between ministry staff and security guards, have been killed in the operation.