(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-22 23:49

CAIRO - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahiri warned Tuesday in his latest audiotape that the terror group still plans to target Western countries involved in the Iraq War.

Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri speaks in a grab from a video released Sept. 20, 2007. [File photo]

The tape, which appeared on an Islamic web site, could not be immediately confirmed as authentic, but the voice sounded like past audiotapes from al-Zawahiri.

When asked if the group still plans to attack Western countries that participated in the Iraq War, al-Zawarhi said, "My answer is Yes! We think that any country joined aggression on Muslims must be deterred."

This was the second time that al-Zawahri answered questions submitted on Islamic militant web sites by al-Qaida followers, critics and journalists last winter.

Al-Qaida announced in December that al-Zawahri would answer questions from the public. Queries were submitted on the main Islamist web site until the deadline of January 16.

In the tape, he also criticized Muslims for failing to support Islamist insurgencies in Iraq and elsewhere, urging all Muslims to hurry to the battlefields of Jihad (holy war), especially in Iraq.

Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks in 2001 which killed nearly 3,000 people in U.S. cities of New York and Washington. Its network in Iraq, Afghanistan and Algeria regularly set off bombs in crowded urban areas taking thousands of lives.