DUBAI: An extremist on an Islamist website urged the North African branch of Al-Qaeda to assassinate US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her regional tour this week, the Site Intelligence Group said on Wednesday.
The organization which monitors Islamist sites said the call was posted on Al-Ekhlaas, a password-protected Al-Qaeda-affiliated forum, on the eve of Rice s tour starting in Libya on Thursday that will also include Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
The tour was an opportunity of a lifetime to kill her, the extremist said, branding her a poisonous swamp rat.
Rice is to mark one of the rare diplomatic successes of President George W. Bush with her first visit to Libya this week, less than four months before the end of Bush s eight-year White House tenure.
Eager to show Iran and North Korea how they could benefit from a rapprochement with the West, the visit will send a clear message of the Bush administration s approval for Libya s commitment to abandon its nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs.
At the start of the September 4-7 tour, Rice will mark the reestablishment of relations with Tripoli after they were suspended in 1981, when Washington branded Libya a supporter of terrorism. -AFP
