Ground Report

 A radical Islmaist Libyan group has joined the Al Qaeda, according to an audio message released on the Internet by the group’s second in command. Ayman al-Zawahri purportedly claimed the Fighting Islamic Group in Libya was becoming part of al-Qaeda. The message urged Muslims in North Africa and palestine to topple their respective Governments. " O nation of jihad, support your sons so that we defeat our enemies and rid our homeland of their slaves," said the recorded voice attributed to al-Zawahri, referring to the leaders of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. The message also declared the Libyan leader, Col Gaddafi to be an eenmy of Islam as he had given up WMD in 2003 for ending Libya’s international isolation. In the same tape, a leader of the Fighting Islamic Group in Libya is introduced as Abu Laith al-Libi. "We proclaim our alliance with the Al-Qaeda network… to become the faithful soldiers of Osama Bin Laden," it says. The group was reportedly formed in the early 1990s by Libyans who fought with the Mujahideen against the Soviets in Afghanistan and has dozens of members arrested and jailed throughout North Africa.