World | Afghanistan
Al Qaida stages TV coup
A senior Al Qaida leader has urged Pakistanis to help Afghans fight US-led coalition forces and condemned President Pervez Musharraf for arresting Arab and Afghan fighters and handing them over to Washington.
- AP
- Published: 00:03 July 23, 2008
Islamabad: A senior Al Qaida leader has urged Pakistanis to help Afghans fight US-led coalition forces and condemned President Pervez Musharraf for arresting Arab and Afghan fighters and handing them over to Washington.
In a rare on-camera interview given to Geo TV and broadcast late on Monday, Mustafa Abu Al Yazeed reiterated Al Qaida's claim of responsibility for the June 2 suicide car bombing on the Danish embassy in Islamabad that killed six people.
Al Yazeed, an Al Qaida commander in Afghanistan, praised Pakistani tribesmen for helping Afghans fight - a reference to the Taliban-led insurgency in the country - but lashed out at the government.
"Pervez Musharraf and his government have committed crimes for which there are no examples in the entire world," he said.
Al Yazeed said that secret organisations - an apparent reference to Pakistani spy agencies - had "arrested Arab mujahideen and handed them over to infidel Americans".
"This is such an ugly spot on Pakistan's history which cannot be forgotten until doomsday," he said.
Geo TV said the interview was conducted a few days ago in the eastern Afghan province of Khost.
Danish embassy attack
Al Yazeed spoke Arabic during the interview, which was dubbed into Urdu for local audiences. He has previously made video statements distributed through Al Qaida's media arm, Al Sahab, but an interview of an Al Qaida leader with a television network is rare.
He said the Islamabad embassy attack was launched in response to the publication of cartoons of Prophet (PBUH).
He said the man who carried out the attack was from the "holy land" of Mecca who had come to fight jihad in Afghanistan or Kashmir.
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