AMMAN (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged rival jihadist fighters in Syria to unite or risk death but again decried fellow Sunni Muslim militants Islamic State as "extremists" in an audio recording posted online on Sunday.
As successor to Osama bin Laden, Zawahri has the allegiance of al Qaeda branches in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. But the group's dominance is being challenged by Islamic State, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq and followings in Libya and Yemen.
