The death of Osama bin Laden will bring a “new era of jihad,” predicted British extremist cleric Anjem Choudary.
Warning there are motivated jihadists “in the heart of America,” Choudary said al-Qaida will likely carry out revenge operations with “meticulous accuracy” and “devastating affect” comparable to that of the 9/11 attacks.
Choudary is the founder and former chief of two Islamic groups disbanded by the British authorities under anti-terror legislation.
Speaking today in an interview with “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” of New York’s WABC Radio, Choudary said that while bin Laden was a “lion of Islam … there are many lions waiting to take his place.”
“I do believe that the death of Sheikh Osama will bring in a new era of jihad,” Choudary told Klein.
“Post-Osama bin Laden, I believe the mujahedeen around the world will have something to prove, that the jihad is not about an individual.”
Choudary said instability for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan “will be a complete nightmare after this event.”
Asked whether he believes al-Qaida is planning revenge attacks, the British extremist speculated the global jihad group “will have their own emergency meetings and they will plan their own response.”
Continued Choudary: “It may be in the short-term or it may be in the long-term, but ultimately, we know that when they decide on an operation, that most likely it will be fulfilled with meticulous accuracy and with devastating effect.”
“We saw that with 9/11,” he added.
Choudary said worldwide jihad “at the current time is spread right from Australia all the way to the heart of Europe and into the United States.”
“There are many people who believe in the phenomenon of jihad which has been franchised as well from al-Qaida. … And these people live in the heart of Europe and they live in the heart of America.”
Choudary currently presents himself as an Islamic lecturer and a leader of Britain’s Shariah Islamic court. He is a founder and former chief of Al Muhajiroun, a British group that sought to impose an Islamic state on the U.K. and that was allied with the goals of al-Qaida.
Al Muhajiroun was officially disbanded by the British government in 2004 under anti-terrorism laws, and its main leader, Omar Bakri Muhammad, was banned from the U.K. in 2005. Choudary then became a leader of Al Ghurabaa, which was reportedly a continuation of Al Muhajiroun. Al Ghurabaa was banned in 2006 by the U.K. for reportedly supporting terrorism.
Former Al Muhajiroun members led by Choudary reportedly continue their activism at public protests and on Internet forums under a new banner group called Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah.
Choudary in 2007 led a protest outside London’s Central Mosque attended by WND. The protest called for the downfall of the British government for offering knighthood to novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie, who was accused by Muslims of defaming Islam and Muhammad in his 1988 book “The Satanic Verses.”
Depictions of British flags were burned at Choudary’s protest. Ralliers chanted, “Down with Britain, down with the Queen.”
