DUBAI: An Al-Qaeda video to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks has appeared on the Internet more than a week late, after websites it uses went down and a technical glitch further delayed its distribution.
The delay of the much-touted 87-minute video, and the disappearance of the main sites — after being targeted by hackers — have marred Al-Qaeda’s usual celebration of its attacks on US cities in 2001.
Excerpts from the video — a compilation of documentary footage and messages by Al-Qaeda leaders including its deputy head Ayman Al-Zawahri — were aired on Sept. 8 by Al-Jazeera television, which did not say how it obtained them.
But the full version hit websites only on Friday, eight days after the anniversary. Al-Qaeda has marked the date in the past with timely releases, including a tape on Sept. 7 last year in which its leader Osama Bin Laden appeared on video for the first time in nearly three years, addressing the American people.
Al-Qaeda attaches great importance to spreading web-based propaganda and know-how through its specialist media arm As-Sahab, whose productions are often highly professional.
It was unclear why the websites normally favored by the group had gone down. By yesterday, the two most popular were still out of action.
India’s Hindustan Times pointed the finger at Internet intelligence websites, which responded in tongue-in-cheek fashion.
Rusty Shackleford of My Pet Jawa (www.mypetjawa.mu.nu) denied his web group was behind any cyber attack on the websites. “But if I were responsible I’d deny it,” he added.
Aaron Weisburd of www.internet-haganah.com wrote: “The actual reasons for this are not known to me (and I would say that even if I actually knew what was going on).”
When less popular websites finally managed to post links to the much-hyped video, which includes a “last will” recording by one of the Sept. 11 hijackers, downloaders noted that the password given to them was wrong. This further delayed the release and unnerved Al-Qaeda sympathizers, one of whom wrote: “May God bless you my brothers, but the password is wrong.”
The closure of the Sunni websites coincided with a widespread cyber attack which shut down some 300 Shiite sites, according to Iran’s Fars news agency. Fars blamed this on hard-line Sunni hackers in the United Arab Emirates.
Hackers calling themselves Group XP took responsibility for defacing the website (www.sistani.org) of Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani.
