Al-Qaeda to Yemen: "The time for the rule of Islam has come so that you could bask in the justice and tolerance it brings"

DUBAI, May 13 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda called on Wednesday for Islamic rule in Yemen and vowed to retaliate for what it said was the killing of civilians in clashes between police and locals in the south, where secessionist sentiment is strong.

The country in the Arabian Peninsula is trying to shake off an image of violence and lawlessness to promote tourism and foreign investment. It is battling al Qaeda, separatist calls in the south and Shi'ite rebels in the north.

"The time for the rule of Islam has come so that you could bask in the justice and tolerance it brings," Abu Basir Nasser al-Wahayshi, the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said in a recording posted on an Islamist website on Wednesday. "The injustice that befell you, God willing, will not pass without punishment. The killing of Muslims in the streets is a great crime that has no justification."[...]

President Ali Abdullah Saleh called on Yemenis earlier this month to hold a dialogue to maintain national unity following a a week of clashes in the south between the police and locals.

"As far as we are concerned, Ali Abdullah Saleh is an infidel and an agent ... and today he is using all forms of oppression with the pretext of preserving unity," said Wahayshi.

Saleh, who took power in the former North Yemen in 1978 and has been president since union with the south in 1990, has backed U.S. moves to crack down on al Qaeda after the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities...