CAIRO - Al-Qaeda threatened major new attacks in Afghanistan and dismissed setbacks in Iraq, vowing that it will keep fighting there even after Americans leave, in a new video marking the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, issued on Friday more than a week after the anniversary.

The delay in release, apparently due to problems in the militant websites where Al-Qaeda posts its videos, raised questions among counter-terror specialists over whether the terror network's long powerful propaganda machine was faltering.

The delay deflated what is usually a media splash for Al-Qaeda.

In previous years, the group has released a string of videos for the 9-11 anniversary, featuring top leaders trumpeting their victories.

Osama bin Laden spoke in one the anniversary videos last year, making his first appearance in nearly three years.

Al-Qaeda promised a similar event this year, announcing in a September 8 web advertisement that it would release a video that would bring joy to its followers.

It sought to build drama by promising a surprise speaker, showing him in silhouette with a question mark over his face.

But soon after, the Islamic militant web forums where Al-Qaeda traditionally posts such videos went down and have remained closed.

The reason is not known.

The 90-minute video, entitled The Results of Seven Years of Crusades, was finally released on Friday, according to two US groups that monitor militant messages.

It featured speeches by Osama's top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri and other top figures in the terror network, as well as the final testament of Ahmed al-Ghamdi, one of the hijackers in the 9-11 attacks, who was apparently the 'surprise' speaker, SITE Intelligence and Intel Centre said.

In the video, Al-Qaeda's top commander in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed, said the 'mujahedeen (holy warriors) are on the increase day after day' in that country.

'The late timing is certainly curious since they made such a big deal of the announcement,' said Mr Evan F. Kohlman, director of Globalterroralert.com, a private terrorism research group.

'They made it seem this was something big but in the end it turned out to be all bark and no bite,' he told the wires.

'They could be having problems in the production line.' -- AP