Web a 'vital tool' for Islamists

By Sebastian Usher
BBC's world media reporter

A radical Islamist website exhibited video pictures claiming to show the beheading of an American in Iraq.

It is one of many such sites that have appeared in the past few years with the aim of spreading a militant, anti-western message.

Many have posted messages they say are from al-Qaeda, although the truth of their claims is often hard to judge.

Some analysts have described cyberspace as the organisation's new meeting place.

Thousands of radical Islamist - or Jihadi - websites are now available on the internet in many languages.

They provide a forum for angry rhetoric against America and its allies.

Since 11 September 2001, they have been analysed more and more closely by intelligence experts.

Vital tool

After al-Qaeda's leaders were driven out of Afghanistan, the internet became increasingly important as a way for them to communicate with each other and with their supporters.

It has also become vital as a tool for al-Qaeda to get its message across to the wider world.

The victim was 26-year-old Nick Berg from Philadelphia

Just last week, a recording purportedly from Osama bin Laden was posted on two Jihadi websites.

Many similar websites carry threats and claims that they say are from al-Qaeda or groups linked to it.

Experts find it hard to verify these claims - just as western governments have found it virtually impossible to track down where the websites actually originate.

Most of the threats do not mention a specific target.

One exception was a posting found last December outlining a plan for a series of bomb attacks in Spain that would coincide with the general elections - a threat borne out by the Madrid bombings in March.

Such incidents naturally add to the seriousness with which western intelligence services are taking the growing stream of messages from Islamic militants on the internet.

---

CORRECTION: We would like to apologise for an error made in an earlier version of this story which carried an image from a website mistakenly labelled as the al-Ansar website. The image was used in error and was not of the al-Ansar site.