In an internet video, Al Qaeda's second-in-command uses a demeaning racial term implying that the president-elect is a black American who does the bidding of whites.

It is Al Qaeda's first public attack on America's president-elect. It comes only days after Obama said stamping out Al Qaeda is a top priority.

The tape, purportedly of Al-Zawahri, was published by SITE Intelligence Group, according to a tape published on Wednesday by the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. organisation that monitors Islamist militant groups.