CAIRO, August 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - In a new videotape, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's right-hand man Ayman Al-Zawahiri warned Britain and the United States of more horror and destruction unless they followed what seemed like a "roadmap".

According to the videotape, shown on Doha-based Al-Jazeera television Thursday, August 4, Al-Qaeda's second-in-command said Britain and the United States needed to "withdraw their troops from Muslim lands in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere", to stop "stealing Muslim oil" and to stop "supporting repressive regimes in the Arab and Muslim worlds".

In an apparent reference to the July 7 terrorist bombings in London, Zawahiri warned Britain could face more destruction because of Prime Minister Tony Blair's policies.

"These policies of Blair will bring them more destruction after the explosions of London," he said.

He further reminded Europe of his leader's warning a month earlier.

The Abu Hafs Al-Masri Brigades, a self-styled group claiming affiliation to Al-Qaeda, threatened Tuesday more terrorist attacks in Europe unless European countries withdraw forces from Iraq.

"We want to give you a one-month deadline to bring your soldiers out from the land of Mesopotamia (Iraq)," read the statement dated July 16.

"It's a message we are addressing to the crusaders who are still present in Iraq -- Denmark, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy and those other countries whose troops continue to crisis-cross Iraqi territory."

Zawahiri, who in the footage appeared to be standing in an open area in front of an assault rifle, also warned the Americans of horrors worse than the war in Vietnam.

"The Americans... will see horror that would make them forget the horror they saw in Vietnam," he said.

The United States believes Zawahiri, who has a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head, is the main strategist and key ideologist in the Al-Qaeda hierarchy.

The spotlight fell on him last month when the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was rocked by a series of deadly bombings that killed at least 67 people including at least 16 foreigners.

In his previous appearance on a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera in June, Zawahiri had singled out Egypt particularly for criticism, along with his usual calls for more jihad (holy war).

And in a tape shown by Al-Jazeera four months earlier, Zawahiri warned the West it faced defeat in what he termed its "new crusade" against the Islamic world, as well as thousands of dead and economic collapse.

Before becoming bin Laden's right-hand man, Zawahiri was the leader of the Jihad group, which spearheaded with the Jamaa Islamiya organization a wave of attacks that rocked Egypt in the 1990s.

Zawahiri, an eye surgeon by training from a wealthy Egyptian family, often appears in video tapes at bin Laden's side.

"He just wanted to use the issue ( Iraq ) to attract and recruit more Arab and Muslim youth," said Rashwan.

Experts on Islamic organizations' affairs have, meanwhile, played down Al-Qaeda's number two threats, saying they came as a mere expression the ghostly organization still exists.

The pundits further said the conditions set by Zawahiri to end the current war he claims his organization is waging in the name of Islam were "nothing new", let alone being "impossible to meet".

"Zawahiri's new tape proves that the role of the historical leaders of Al-Qaeda is now limited to the mere inciting of angry youth around the world, who believe in the organization's ideas, against western targets despite the apparent lack of direct links between the leaders and these youth," Egyptian expert in Islamic militant groups Diaa Rashwan, told IOL Thursday.

He cited two incidents to prove his point.

"Last year, Al-Qaeda gave European countries until July 15, 2004, to withdraw their troops from Iraq or face attacks. The July 7 bombings in London were the first attack and came almost a year after Al-Qaeda's deadline," he said, adding that proved it was more like the act of angry youth than a planned one by Al-Qaeda.

Rashwan also mentioned July's one month warning by a group claiming to be affiliated to Al-Qaeda before unleashing attacks across Europe.

"Only a week later, we witnessed the second wave of London bombings that failed to hurt anyone."

Commenting on Zawahiri's political conditions for the west to end the war, Rashwan said withdrawal from Iraq is already a hot issue discussed by the west itself.

"He just wanted to use the issue to attract and recruit more Arab and Muslim youth".