Al-Zawahiri Video Stresses Importance Of Iraq War

By LEE KEATH The Associated Press

Published: Jul 6, 2007

BAGHDAD - A new video by al-Qaida's deputy leader Thursday left no doubt about what the terror network claims is at stake in Iraq - describing it as a centerpiece of its anti-American fight and insisting the Iraqi insurgency is under its direct leadership.

But the proclamations by Ayman al-Zawahiri carried another unintended message: reflecting the current troubles confronting the Sunni extremists in Iraq, experts said.

The Islamic State of Iraq, the insurgent umbrella group that is claimed by al-Qaida, has faced ideological criticism from some militants, and rival armed groups have joined U.S. battles against it. A U.S.-led offensive northwest of Baghdad - in one of the Islamic State's strongholds - may temporarily have disrupted and scattered insurgent forces.

"Some of the developments suggest that it [the Islamic State] is more fragile than it was before," said Bruce Hoffman, a Washington-based terrorism expert at the Rand Corp. think tank.

Al-Zawahiri "is trying to replenish the Islamic State brand," he said. "It's time to reassert its viability, but how connected to reality that is is another issue."

U.S. forces have focused on al-Qaida-linked fighters in their security clampdowns in Baghdad and so-called belts around the city in recent weeks. That has brought an increase in U.S. casualties, but insurgent and militia attacks appear to have fallen.

Still, bloodshed can hit at any time. A car bomb Thursday killed 17 people and wounded 28 when it blasted a photographers' shop in a Shiite part of Baghdad. A bride and groom were inside having wedding photos taken as relatives and friends waited outside, said an official at the nearest police station. They both were wounded.

North of Baghdad, insurgents attacked an Iraqi police convoy, killing five officers. Other police then opened fire, killing six civilians.

In other attacks Thursday, two U.S. soldiers were killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb in south Baghdad, the U.S. military said.