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Al-Qaeda Calls For "Holy War" Against Pakistan

Jul 11, 4:36 PM (ET)

Al-Qaeda Calls For "Holy War" Against Pakistan

 CAIRO, EGYPT: Al-Qaeda's No. 2 issued a new videotape on Wednesday calling for Pakistanis to join the jihad, or holy war, in revenge for the attack by Pakistan's army on a radical mosque. Ayman al-Zawahri's 4-minute, 24-second address was entitled "The Aggression against Lal Masjid" and entirely focused on the recent clashes between Islamic students and Pakistan's army at the mosque.

The video was released by al-Qaeda's multimedia branch, as-Sahab. Its authenticity could not immediately be confirmed, but two U.S.-based terrorism monitoring groups also reported it.

"Muslims of Pakistan: your salvation is only through Jihad," al-Zawahri said in the video, which was subtitled in English. "Musharraf and his hunting dogs have rubbed your honor in the dirt in the service of the Crusaders and the Jews," he said, referring to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, who has come under strong internal criticism by fundamentalists for his handling of the clashes at the mosque.

Al-Qaeda's new video came as Pakistani commandos cleared the warren-like Red Mosque complex (Overhead Photo - Right) of its last die-hard defenders Wednesday and the army said it counted the bodies of 73 suspected militants. The commandos went in after unsuccessful attempts to get the mosque's militants to surrender to a weeklong siege mounted by the government following deadly street clashes in Islamabad with armed supporters of the mosque on July 3. Article continues at MyWay.com: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070711/D8QAJV5O0.html