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Al-Qaida Figure Backs Iraqi Insurgents Top al-Qaida Figure Ayman Al-Zawahri Urges Support for Iraqi Insurgents in Video The Associated Press (snipped) CAIRO, Egypt - No. 2 al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri praised insurgents in Iraq, particularly Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and called on all Muslims to support them in a video posted Thursday on the Internet. The video was dated with an Islamic month corresponding to November 2005 and al-Zawahri mentions an Oct. 23 earthquake that hit Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it appeared to be the first time the 28-minute video has been made public. It was not clear why the video...

MADRID (Reuters) - An al Qaeda cell based in France planned a chemical attack on a U.S. naval base in Rota, Spain, newspaper ABC reported on Tuesday. Algerian Said Arif, extradited to France from Syria last year, has admitted his cell was plotting a chemical attack on the southern Spanish base controlled by the United States since 1953, the Spanish daily reported. The paper said Arif was considered a lieutenant of Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq. Zarqawi himself was accused of planning a chemical attack last year in his native Jordan, which authorities thwarted. Arif was...

DUESSELDORF, Germany -- A Jordanian man who claims he was Osama bin Laden's bodyguard was questioned by U.S. officials who are considering having him testify at the Virginia trial of terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, the man's attorney said Thursday. Shadi Abdellah, 28, sentenced last November to four years in prison for helping plan terror attacks in Germany, was granted early release last month after serving more than half the time, including in pretrial custody. While in prison, he served as a government witness in several trials, including that of his alleged co-plotters in the German cell of the Tawhid and...

DUESSELDORF, Germany - A German investigator testified Friday that authorities identified al-Qaida links to the leader of a German-based terrorist cell, but could not back U.S. claims that the man was also in contact with Saddam Hussein. Testifying at the trial of Shadi Abdellah, accused of plotting attacks in Germany for the radical Palestinian group Al Tawhid, federal agent Manfred Ehlenz said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the leader of the group and also believed to be the "leader of a wing within al-Qaida." In his February speech to the U.N. Security Council U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said al-Zarqawi...