Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden called for Iraqi insurgents' unity in a new audiotape aired by al-Jazeera television on Monday.

 

"The interest of the Islamic nation surpasses that of a group," said a speaker presumably to be the leader of al-Qaida.

 

Calling on Iraqi insurgent factions to avoid divisions, Bin Laden said in the tape that insurgents should admit their mistakes.

 

"Everybody can make a mistake, but the best of them are those who admit their mistakes," said the speaker, adding that he advises "himself, Muslims in general and brothers in al-Qaida everywhere" not to be extreme.

 

Bin Laden also warned that duties to unite have not been fulfilled, calling for actions "under a single banner to champion righteousness."

 

The authenticity of the tape could not be immediately confirmed, but the voice resembled that of bin Laden in previous messages.

 

However, al-Jazeera did not say how it obtained the tape.

 

The tape of bin Laden is the latest one since September 20, when the leader of al-Qaida network called for jihad, or holy war, against Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf over his administration's support for the US.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2007)