(CNN) -- A top figure in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula says the group's leadership has not been hurt by recent attacks.

In an audio message released Monday, Saeed al-Shihri, who goes by the name Abu Sufyan al-Azdi, calls for jihad against the interests of Americans and others.

"We say to our people in the Arabian peninsula that the Jews, the Christians and the treacherous apostate rulers are conspiring against you and everyone wants to target your religion, your wealth, your honor and your sacred lands, and your only way to defend yourself and defeat these conspiracies is to seek jihad in the name of God. This is your only way," the voice says in the message.

On the tape, he is introduced as the group's second in command. CNN could not independently confirm that the voice is that of al-Shihri.

"Oh people of jihad, seek jihad in the name of God. The interests of Americans and the Crusaders are everywhere and their agents are everywhere, so don't leave them alone and help us defeat these enemies and especially the criminal Saudi ruling family because they are the proxies who are running this war against the Muslims, they are the agents working on behalf of the Zionists and Crusaders," al-Shihri says in the message.

Al-Shihri was detained by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from 2002 until 2007, when he was released to Saudi Arabia. He was put through the Saudi government's jihadist rehabilitation program, then went to Yemen where he he rejoined al Qaeda and became deputy commander of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The group, based in Yemen, includes terrorist operatives in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas Day attempted terrorist attack on a U.S.-bound international flight.

A grand jury has indicted Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab on a variety of charges in that case, including an attempt to murder the other 289 people aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has hailed AbdulMutallab as a "brother" who carried out a "heroic attack." The group said he used a new type of explosives that security screenings did not detect.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has also claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks targeting Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Yemen and the United States since its inception in January 2009, according to Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Last month, the U.N. Security Council voted to freeze the organization's assets and ban weapons sales to the group.