A STATEMENT published on an Islamist website today purporting to be from al-Qaeda urged retaliation against the US and its allies for Israel's killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. "Sheikh Yassin's blood will not have been shed in vain - we call on all the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades to avenge the sheikh of the Palestinian resistance by striking the tyrant of the century America and its allies," said the statement carried by the www.al-ansar.biz website. The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades take their name from an al-Qaeda leader killed in Washington's 2001 onslaught in Afghanistan and is a...