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Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has called for revenge attacks in Saudi Arabia and on the West after the kingdom's execution of some 40 extremists.

In the message posted online, Zawahiri called on supporters to attack "the Crusader-Zionist coalition whenever possible" and urged Saudis to overthrow the kingdom's ruling family.

"Is it not about time that you get rid of this rotten regime... that will never defend you?" he said.

On 2 January, Saudi Arabia executed 47 people, mostly extremists convicted of involvement in al-Qaeda attacks killing Saudis and foreigners in the kingdom in 2003 and 2004.

On 2 January prominent Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, was also executed. It sparked protests from Shia-dominated Iran and a diplomatic crisis with Riyadh and other Gulf states cutting ties with Tehran.

Zawahiri said Nimr's killing was "one of the manifestations of the Saudi-Iranian competition for power in the region, but under the umbrella of protecting and complying with the interests of America".

The 56-year-old cleric was a driving force of the protests that broke out in 2011 in the Sunni-ruled kingdom's east, where the Shia minority complains of marginalisation.

Saudi Arabia's Shia-populated east has been the scene of periodic clashes involving security forces after demonstrations broke out almost five years ago alongside a similar protests in neighbouring Bahrain.