WASHINGTON: Al-Qaeda is calling for its fighters to avenge the death of the group`s number three leader Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, killed by US forces in May, the SITE monitoring group said Friday.

In a video posted to Jihadi websites, Abu Yahya al-Libi, a member of the extremist group`s Shariah Committee, urged fighters and Muslims to take the lead of Al-Qaeda`s former finance specialist as an example.

Yazid`s "pure blood shall be a light for the mujahideen believers and fire on the criminal enemies of Allah," said the video eulogy.

Yazid`s death in a drone attack in North Waziristan in late May was deemed a "severe blow" to Al-Qaeda`s operations, US officials said last month, with White House spokesman Robert Gibbs telling reporters that "we welcome his demise."

The moneyman, a close confidante of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, helped organize the finances of the September 11, 2001 hijackers, but was reportedly uncomfortable about the operation, with a US investigation into the attacks finding he opposed the attacks "because he feared the US response."

BDST:0929 HRS, July 31, 2010