THE shadowy new leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, has switched tactics to target thousands of western contractors working in the country.

In an audio tape released last week, he called on his supporters to kidnap westerners during the current holy month of Ramadan. Muhajir suggested they could be exchanged for Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, a blind Egyptian cleric jailed in the United States in 1995 for plotting to blow up landmarks.

Muhajir urged supporters “to capture some of the Roman dogs so as to secure his release from the darkness of his prison”.

According to intelligence sources, Muhajir has sharply altered the strategy of Al-Qaeda since a US airstrike killed his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Muhajir has moved away from attacks on Iraq’s security forces because they were alienating many people, Iraqi and western sources confirmed.

One of his aims is to redirect his men, mostly Sunni Arabs, to attack Shi’ite militias. The intention is to promote internecine conflict between the majority Shi’ite Muslims and the minority Sunnis.

Muhajir, who has also used the the name Abu Ayoub al-Masri (the Egyptian), was little known until Zarqawi’s death in June.

He is said to be unlike Zarqawi, a charismatic Jordanian who favoured spectacular suicide bombings and loved the spotlight. In contrast, even the real name and nationality of Muhajir (foreigner) are unknown. He is believed to be Egyptian and the only published photograph of him is said to be 10 years old and shows a chubby-faced young man.

“He is older and thinner now. He was with us during the Falluja war, leading a group of fighters in Jowlan district,” an insurgent source said, referring to fighting with US forces in 2004.

The interior ministry describes Muhajir as “35-40 years of age with considerable experience in war that he gained in Afghanistan in the late 1990s”. He trained with Osama Bin Laden, it added.

In a tape released last month, Muhajir warned: “What you saw in the past is a drop of what you are going to see and what is prepared for you.” An earlier video of a man said to be Muhajir matches the voice on the tape. He is shown shooting dead a Turkish hostage.

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