CAIRO, Egypt -- Al-Qaida's deputy leader has issued a new video message praising the terrorist organization's slain commander in Afghanistan, a U.S. group that monitors militant messages said Wednesday. The nine-minute, 59-second tape of Ayman al-Zawahri, titled "An Elegy to the Martyred Commander Abu Laith al-Libi," was issued by al-Sahab, the organization's media branch, according to the IntelCenter. The video has English subtitles and its authenticity could not be immediately verified. Al-Libi is believed to have been killed by a missile from a U.S. Predator drone that struck his safehouse in Pakistan in late January. He was viewed as a top al-Qaida strategist in neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistani intelligence described him as the operational commander of al-Qaida in the border region and one of the militant group's most high-profile figures after its leader, Osama bin Laden, and al-Zawahri. The video was posted on a Web site that usually releases al-Qaida messages. The site also displayed a banner advertising an upcoming "interview" of al-Zawahri by al-Sahab, with a picture of him in a traditional white Arab robe and white turban, seated before a bookshelf. Such advertisements are usually posted up to 72 hours before the message is released. Al-Zawahri _ seen by many counterterrorism experts to be al-Qaida's operational chief, rather than bin Laden _ is believed to play a large role in directing al-Qaida's strategy and issues frequent video and audio messages, often laying out the network's doctrinal line. Wednesday's message was the first purportedly from al-Zawahri this year. He issued 15 in 2007.
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