Bin Laden death 'increases fire of war:' Qaeda

DUBAI: The leader of Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa warned on Thursday that the US killing of Osama bin Laden will only increase the desire to take revenge on the West, the SITE monitoring group reported.

"With this act, you have only increased the fire of war and enraged it," Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, chief of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), said in an audio message posted on jihadist Internet forums.

"With this act, you increased the animosity of the Ummah (Muslim nation) towards you, its desire to retaliate against you, and its insistance to fight and defeat you," he said in an address to the West, according to SITE.

Al-Qaeda has already vowed to avenge the May 2 killing in a US commando raid near Islamabad of bin Laden. (AFP)