In the recording Zawahiri praises the actions of Islamic fighters in Afghanistan. The CIA confirmed its authenticity, but was unable to say when it had been made.
Its release appears to be part of a fresh Al-Qaeda propaganda offensive to show that the organisation has not been harmed by the American attack on Damadola village near the Afghan border on January 13. when four senior members were reported to have been killed.
In another audiotape released last week Bin Laden threatened new attacks on America while offering a long-term truce if it withdrew forces from Iraq and Afghanistan. Washington poured scorn on the offer.
Pakistani security officials claimed Abu Khabab al-Masri, an Islamic militant believed to have recruited Richard Reid, the British “shoe bomber”, was among the Al-Qaeda figures who died in Damadola.
Al-Masri, 52, had been visiting the village to plan his wedding, the officials claimed. He was thought to have indoctrinated Reid, who was jailed in America after trying to blow up an aircraft over the Atlantic in December 2001 with a crude bomb in his shoe.
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The other leading Al-Qaeda figures reported killed were Abdul Rehman al-Maghribi, Zawahiri’s son-in-law; Abu Obaidah al-Misri, Al-Qaeda’s head of media operations; and Mustafa Usman, the chief of operations in Afghanistan’s Kunar province.
Eighteen villagers also died in the Damadola attack, which provoked demonstrations in Pakistan against America and President Pervez Musharraf.
The terrorists were among a group of 12 Al-Qaeda representatives who had arrived in the village for a feast on the day of the attack, the administrator of the Bajaur tribal region said.
Officials from two different Pakistani intelligence agencies claimed Zawahiri had been with the group attending the feast, and that he was there to give support to al-Masri, who was planning to marry a local woman.
“Since it is the tradition that the prospective groom will not propose to the prospective bride himself, al-Masri was represented by Zawahiri who acted as his guardian as per Islamic tradition,” said one of the officials.
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The woman was a 30-year-old widow with a seven-year-old son. Her husband was a mujaheddin who had been killed fighting with the Taliban shortly after the American-led coalition ousted the Islamic regime, the sources said.
The terrorists’ bodies were spirited away for burial by local sympathisers. They have yet to be recovered for checks that might confirm their identities.
The security officials’ claims could not be independently verified, although intelligence officials said they had been told by another captured militant that Zawahiri had met Abu Farraj al-Libbi, his deputy, in the village early last year.
Local politicians have insisted no foreign fighters were in the area at the time of the attack and that Zawahiri had not visited the village.
Another Pakistani intelligence source said the government believed al-Masri was in the area not to find a bride but to train fighters loyal to Gulbadin Hekmatyar, the veteran mujaheddin leader and former Afghan prime minister.
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Regardless of how many Al-Qaeda fighters might have been killed in the strike, the number of villagers who lost their lives is causing Musharraf great discomfort. His government initially protested to America about the attack on its territory and claimed it had no advance warning of the strike.
But last week Shaukat Aziz, the Pakistani prime minister, softened his position during a visit to America. “Our war against terror is based on principles, so if our objectives are similar, I think we can work together,” he said. “However, the modus operandi and the code of conduct need to be discussed.”
He added: “At the same time, let me say that we are committed to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and that terrorism knows no borders.”