1.12pm: An offshoot of al-Qaida in north Africa has called on Muslims to support the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said in a statement posted on a militant website Thursday that it would do whatever it can to support the revolt, but did not give specifics.
The group, based in Algeria, may be seeking to capitalise on the revolt to gain recruits or win support among Libyans.
The statement on a website, monitored by the SITE Intelligence Group, denounced Gaddafi as a "criminal tyrant". It said support for the rebels should especially come from Libyan neighbours Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria.This is more interesting in the light of news that:
Gaddafi has helped the US track al-Qaida and other terror suspects in the region.Which is probably why Gaddafi said this:
What is happening now in Libya is not people's power, it's international terrorism led by al-Qaeda ... All they want is to kill your kids, that's what Bin Laden wants, he should be happy now, that's what he wants.
There are no queues, people are getting all their daily needs. Why did you have to get involved with this kind of Bin Laden organisation?
So the US, UK and other leading Western nations agree with this branch of Al-Qaida that Gaddafi is a tyrant but likely disagree on the appropriateness of direct intervention in the Libyan turmoil. The Western Nations agree(d) with Gaddafi that Al-Qaida is a terrorist threat that needs to be hunted down and eliminated but likely disagree that Al-Qaida is actually responsible for the current groundswell of protest against Gaddafi.
