Jihad Recruiting Scientists

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Al-Qaeda Seeks Scientists and Urges More Iraq Attacks (Update1)

By Robin Stringer and Judy Mathewson

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq urged nuclear scientists to join the Iraqi jihad and asked supporters to step up attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a terrorist-monitoring group said.

Abu Hamza al-Muhajer asked Muslims with experience in physical sciences, electronics, media and ``deep specialties,'' -- especially nuclear science and explosive engineering -- to join his cause, according to an audio message posted on the Internet today. The message was translated by the Search for International Terrorist Entities, a Washington-based group that monitors jihadist Web sites.

``The jihad battlefield needs your scientific ambition. All of the American camps are the best experimental fields for your non-conventional bombs, whether dirty, or biological bombs, as they call them,'' al-Muhajer said, according to SITE's translation.

The message suggested that insurgents envision an intensified and more sophisticated round of attacks in Iraq as the U.S. role in the country is called into question. A majority of Iraqis approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, according to results released yesterday of a poll taken earlier this month by the University of Maryland.

Most Iraqis want U.S. and other foreign troops to leave Iraq in a phased pullout, the same poll found.

Al-Muhajer announced the beginning of a military campaign during Ramadan, which began Sept. 23, to ``eradicate the limb of the infidel and the apostate.''

The terror leader also goes by the name Ayyub al-Masri. In Arabic, al-Masri means the Egyptian. He has a history of terrorism dating to 1982, when he joined a group in Egypt led by Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the U.S. military said in June.

`Infidel' Campaign

Al-Muhajer urged fighters to capture ``Roman dogs,'' and asked Sunni Muslim tribes to support their efforts, while thanking them for funding and manpower. The message was posted by the Mujahedeen Shura Council in Iraq, according to a statement on SITE's Web site.

The recording offered an amnesty to tribal leaders who switch their support from the Iraqi government to the insurgency, Agence France-Presse reported.

The deal is contingent on ``your declaration of a full repentance and cooperation with your brothers the mujahedeen to drive the occupier'' out of Iraq, AFP said, citing the recording, whose authenticity couldn't be verified.

Al-Muhajer became the leader of the terrorist network in Iraq after a U.S. air strike killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on June 7.