The media report about an audio message, supposedly released by al-Qaeda that called Bangladeshi Muslims to join in a jihad against the western countries, has been termed as baseless by the Home Ministry.
Kamal Ahmed, additional secretary (political wing) for home, made the statement while talking to the Dhaka Tribune on Saturday evening, hours after a number of newspapers released reports over the issue with the link to the audio.
He said: “We depend on our intelligence wing for any issue related to our internal security. According to our intelligence wing officials, the media report on al-Qaeda’s audio message is totally baseless, as they have yet to find any confirmed source behind the news.”
The audio clip was released on January 14. In the message, Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri, leader of the Al-Qaeda, says: "My Muslim brothers in Bangladesh, I invite you to confront this crusade onslaught against Islam, which is being orchestrated by the leading criminals in the subcontinent and the west against Islam, the prophet of Islam, and the Islamic creed, so that they may turn you into slaves of a despotic and disbelieving system.”
The Dhaka Tribune has contacted a number of sources to check the authenticity of the clip, however could not confirm any specific or reliable source.
Egyptian physician Zawahiri, born in 1951, is the leader of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda.