Beirut - The leader of the Lebanese Sunni fundamentalist group Fatah al-Islam hit out Tuesday at supporters of Sunni political leader Saad Hariri and the radical Shiite movement Hezbollah. In an audiotape, Shaker Abssi also criticized the Lebanese army's role in the clashes between pro- and anti-government supporters last month.
Abssi accused Sunni leaders of being "traitors" and receiving orders from the US administration. He also accused Hezbollah of launching a sectarian war in May when it took over West Beirut.
On May 7, the Hezbollah-led opposition seized control of the capital in clashes that lasted six-days during which 82 people were killed.
The clashes ended when Lebanese rival groups brokered a peace deal in Qatar on May 21 and which led to the election of Michel Suleiman as president after a six-month power vacuum.
Abssi hinted it was time for revenge and that Iraq's bombings and suicide bombers would not spare "God's enemies wherever they are."
The authenticity of the audiotape could not be independently verified but was posted on websites which issue statements by extremists.
If the tape proves authentic, it would be the second since the leader of the terrorist group escaped from the northern Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared last year.
Abssi is believed to have fled during bloody gunbattles between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam fighters, which led to the death of 400 people, including 137 soldiers.
The more than three-month siege at the camp destroyed large parts of the shantytown.
Earlier this year, the fugitive leader lashed out at then army chief Suleiman and vowed his fighters would hunt down the president's followers whom he accused of destroying Nahr al-Bared as part of a deal to aloow him to become head of state.
The al-Qaida-inspired group's leader also accused Suleiman in his first audiotape of waging the battle at the camp for political purposes, including appeasing the United States.
In the new tape headlined "An Appeal to Lebanon's Sunnis," Abssi said the army, "disappointed" Sunnis who backed it during the Nahr al-Bared battles.
