New York – A purported al-Qaeda newscast that promises weekly updates made its online debut with a report read by a masked man that included video of Hurricane Katrina – subtitled “divine punishment” – and a message from the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The first newscast of the Voice of the Caliphate appeared on Sept. 21, showing a masked man wearing a black shirt and reading the bulletin with an automatic rifle on his right side and a copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, on his left.
The man congratulated Palestinians on Israel’s recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The video also aired parts of an audio recently made by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq group, in which he declared war on Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majority.
When the announcer read a report on Hurricane Katrina, footage from the area appeared with a subtitle in Arabic reading: “Hurricane Katrina: divine punishment.” The bulletin by the Voice of the Caliphate, which is run by the Global Islamic Media Front, appeared on a website usually used by militant groups to post statements or videos. According to ads on the site, the bulletins will be weekly.
