CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting al-Qaeda and promised to expand the terror group's holy war to Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."
Osama bin Laden in an undated photograph.
Most of the 56-minute tape dealt with Iraq, apparently al-Qaeda's latest attempt to keep supporters in Iraq unified at a time when the U.S. military claims to have al-Qaeda's Iraq branch on the run.
The tape did not mention Pakistan or the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, though Pakistan's government has blamed al-Qaeda and the Taliban for her death on Thursday.
But bin Laden's comments offered an unusually direct attack on Israel, which has warned of growing al-Qaeda activity in Palestinian territory. The terror network is not believed to have taken a strong role there so far.
"We intend to liberate Palestine, the whole of Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the sea," he said, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."
"We will not recognize even one inch for Jews in the land of Palestine as other Muslim leaders have," bin Laden said.
