FILE – This image provided by IntelCenter on Dec. 30, 2009, shows a frame made from video released Jan. 23, 2009 by al-Malahim Media Foundation, the media arm of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, with a man identified as Nasser al-Wahishi. In 2012, a year before a communication was intercepted of him discussing the terror plot that prompted early August 2013’s sweeping closure of U.S. embassies abroad, al-Qaida’s top operative in Yemen laid out his blueprint for how to wage jihad in letters sent to a fellow terrorist. Al-Wahishi provided a step-by-step assessment of what worked and what didn’t in Yemen. He urged his fellow jihadist to provide food, clean water and electricity to the people living in the areas they control. He even offers tips for more efficient garbage collection. (AP Photo/IntelCenter, File)
CAIRO (AP) — The leader of the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot has vowed to free fellow militants from prisons everywhere and urged them to remain faithful to the terror group’s ideology.
The message by Nasser al-Wahishi, posted on militant websites Monday, warns al-Qaida prisoners not “to be lured by their jailers” and promises that “victory is imminent” to ensure their freedom.
The note by al-Wahishi, a onetime aide to Osama bin Laden, comes after last week’s closure of 19 U.S. diplomatic missions triggered by the interception of a secret message between al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri and the Yemeni branch’s leader about plans for a major attack.
It also follows an announcement by Yemeni authorities that they had discovered an al-Qaida plot to target foreign embassies in Sanaa and international shipping in the Red Sea.
