Al Qaida backs Somali rebels

Cairo: Al Qaida's deputy leader urged Somalia's Islamists to ambush Ethiopian forces with land mines and suicide attacks, according to an internet audiotape posted on Friday.

"I speak to you today as the crusader Ethiopian invasion forces violate the soil of the beloved Muslim Somalia," Ayman Al Zawahiri said in his first audiotape released this year.

Zawahiri urged Islamist rebels to continue ambushing Ethiopian forces until they can reclaim their country from "crusaders".

Pro-government Somalian and Ethiopian forces drove Islamists from the capital of Mogadishu last week. The rebels vowed to launch a guerrilla war as part of reprisal.

"Launch ambushes, land mines, raids and suicidal combats until you consume them as the lions and eat their prey," Zawahiri said.

The more than five-minute audiotape could not immediately be verified but was aired on a website frequently used by militants.

Zawahiri also told Somalia's Islamists not to be intimidated by the United States. “It is weaker today than before," he said, while urging Muslims to support Somalia's Islamists with fighters, money and expertise.

Zawahiri's statement comes after Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's speech on Friday that he believes major fighting was over, despite a declaration from the Islamic movement that it would keep fighting, raising the specter of an Iraq-style guerrilla war.