DUBAI - Al-Qaeda second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri on Saturday announced that Egypt`s Jamaa Islamiya militant group was joining the global terror network, in a taped message aired by Arabic television Al-Jazeera.
In the message, the Egyptian-born Zawahiri welcomed the Jamaa Islamiya`s leadership "under the al-Qaeda banner."
The group, which is Egypt`s main militant Islamist organisation, renounced violence nine years ago after several bloody attacks.
Its members were suspected of playing a role in the 1997 attack in Luxor, Egypt, which killed 62 people including many foreign tourists.
08/05/2006 20:40 GMT