A group calling itself al Qaeda's wing in the Levant vowed to carry out bombings in Lebanon and attacks on Christians unless Beirut pulled its army away from Palestinian refugee camps.
DUBAI: A group calling itself al Qaeda's wing in the Levant vowed to carry out bombings in Lebanon and attacks on Christians unless Beirut pulled its army away from Palestinian refugee camps.
"We warn you for the last time, after which there will be nothing apart from seas of blood," said a speaker identified as the military leader of the group in a video posted on Friday by a media arm used by Islamist groups including Qaeda in Iraq.
"What we want is that you order the Christian Lebanese army to pull its men from around all Palestinian camps and the Nahr al-Bared Camp in particular," he said addressing Maronite Christian Partiarch Cadrinal Nasrallah Sfeir.
"If you do not stop we will wrench out your hearts with ... bombs," said the speaker whose face was covered with a chequered head dress and who had rifle magazines around his torso.
There have been three bomb attacks in Lebanon this week since clashes between the army and the al Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam militant group erupted this week at Nahr al-Bared camp.
At least 33 soldiers and 25 militants have been killed in what is the worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. Thousands have fled the Nahr al-Bared camp, where sources say at least 11 civilians have been killed and 100 wounded.
The speaker described the army's campaign as a "brutal ... crusade under the pretext of fighting terrorism" and argued that Palestinians in Lebanon have always suffered discrimination.
The Qaeda campaign would target businesses "starting with tourism and ending with other means of making your rotten living", said the militant who did not sound Lebanese.
Addressing Sfeir, the militant said: "Leash your dogs away from our kin and stop the fire of your canons, or else... No crusader will be safe in Lebanon after today. As you hit you will be hit".
A fragile truce held between the army and Fatah al-Islam militants on Friday despite sporadic overnight clashes.
The United States and Arab allies sent military aid to Lebanon on Friday and the Lebanese army deployed extra troops to the refugee camp.
"We welcome a battle, and do not be fooled by the support of apostate Arabs to you," the militant said.
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