by MATTHEW COLE and ROBERT WINDREM
Al Qaeda has used a slickly produced video with audio from Malcolm X to announce the upcoming launch of a new English-language on-line terror magazine called “Resurgence.”
If the magazine is launched, it will mark the first English-language publication from the central branch of the terror group. Al Qaeda’s media wing, as-Sahab, which released the 80 second video on the internet this weekend, has for years released messages from senior leaders of the terror group like Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The brief video appears to combine audio from a 1965 Malcolm X speech justifying violence — including the quote “talk the language that they understand” – with images of U.S. soldiers, Islamic militants, a purported attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan and the Boston Marathon bombings.
The announcement comes as al Qaeda central has been devastated by drone strikes in western Pakistan over the past several years and the U.S. commando raid that killed the group’s founder and leader, Osama bin Laden, and suggests that the main branch of the organization is trying to reestablish its waning influence over Islamic militants.
Over the past several years al Qaeda's off-shoot in Yemen, named al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has become the most dangerous al Qaeda franchise, according to U.S. government officials.
Evan Kohlmann, a terrorism analyst for NBC News, said the video's production style suggests the new magazine has been influenced by AQAP's Inspire magazine — “everything from the fonts, the graphics, and the use of iconic voices and images.”
“The announcement appears to be a tacit acknowledgement of the success of Inspire,” said Kohlmann.
Inspire, edited by American-raised jihadi Samir Khan, was allegedly the source of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s plans to build pressure cooker explosive devices, which killed three and wounded 264 at the Boston Marathon in April 2013.
Inspire’s most notorious article was called, "How To Make A Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom." It provided a recipe for explosives using ingredients that could be purchased easily.
“Clearly, al Qaeda's central leadership is seeking to try and recruit Americans from within U.S. borders, including indirectly if necessary — the homegrown terrorism model,” said Kohlmann.
Khan was killed in the same U.S. strike that killed U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen in 2011.
The CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.