Abu Ayyub al-Masri, chief of the al- Qaida in Iraq, called on his followers to capture foreigners in a bid to free a Muslim cleric jailed in the United States, said an audio tape issued on Internet Thursday.

"I call on every holy fighter in Iraq to strive during this holy month (of Ramadan) ... to capture some Western Christians to exchange them for our imprisoned sheikh," al-Masri said in the tape whose authenticity could not be verified.

He was referring to the Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was jailed in the United States since 1995 over charges linked to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.

Al-Masri also urged Muslims to make the holy month of Ramadan a "month of holy war". Ramadan began last weekend across the Muslim world.

On Sept. 7, the new al-Qaida head in Iraq called for Muslims unity against the enemy in an audio tape which was said to be first such one released by al-Masri, according to pan-Arab al- Jazeera Television.

In the tape, al-Masri said he was confident that victory would be achieved, calling on all mujahedeen to unite on the battlefield.

Al-Masri succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after the latter was killed in a U.S. airstrike north of Baghdad in June.

The U.S. military has put a bounty of 5 million U.S. dollars on al-Masri's head.

Source: Xinhua