CAIRO, Egypt – Al Qaeda’s no. 2 made the terror group’s first direct claim of responsibility for the July 7 bombings in London in a tape broadcast yesterday that also included a farewell warning to the West from a man identified as one of the four suicide attackers.

Speaking English, the bomber identified as Mohammad Sidique Khan said he had forsaken “everything for what we believe” and went on to accuse Western civilians of being directly responsible for the terror attacks that befall them.

“Your democratically elected governments continuously perpetuate injustice against my people all over the world, and your support of them makes you directly responsible, just as I am directly responsible for protecting and avenging my Muslim brothers and sisters,” said Khan, wearing a red-and-white checked keffiyeh and a dark jacket and apparently sitting against a wall lined with an ornate carpet.

Khan said he was inspired by Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden; Al Qaeda no. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, who also appeared on the tape, and by the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi.

“Until we feel security, you will be our targets,” he said. “Until you will stop the bombing, gassing, imprisonment, and torture of my people, we will not stop this fight.”

In his portion of the tape, Mr. al-Zawahri did not say outright that his terror group carried out the bombings on the London transport system that killed 52 people and the four attackers. But he said the attacks were a direct response to Britain’s foreign policies and its rejection of a truce that Al Qaeda offered Europe in April 2004.

Khan and Mr. al-Zawahri did not appear together in the tape, but shots of each were edited together. While their appearance together in an edited tape appeared to show some level of coordination, it would have been more significant had they appeared together in one portion – indicating that Mr. al-Zawahri was a hands-on commander who met directly with an attacker.

Two American officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the message’s sensitive nature, said that any claim of responsibility did not necessarily indicate that Al Qaeda planned or directed the attack.

The officials said Al Qaeda would regard the London bombings as a victory whether they were directly involved in them or not.

In the video, Mr. al-Zawahri threatened the West with “more catastrophes” in retaliation for the policies of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair. “I talk to you today about the blessed London battle, which came as a slap to the face of the tyrannical, crusader British arrogance,” said Mr. al-Zawahri.