LONDON: Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden’s deputy, secretly directed the Islamic militants whose armed revolt at the Red Mosque in Islamabad ended last week with a bloodbath after the Pakistan Army stormed it, a media report said on Sunday.
The troops, which finally took control of the mosque, discovered letters from al-Zawahiri, The Sunday Times said, quoting senior intelligence officials.
They were written to Abdul Rashid Ghazi and Abdul Aziz, the brothers who ran the mosque and adjacent madrasa.
Al-Qaeda had wanted to open a Pakistan front in its global campaign since President Pervez Musharraf sided with America after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. — PTI
Osama praises martyrdom
AFP reports from Cairo:
Osama bin Laden praised martyrdom in a new videotape posted on a militant web site on Sunday by Al-Qaeda’s media production wing. The clip, which lasted less than a minute, was undated and part of a 40-minute video featuring purported Al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan paying tribute to fellow militants who have been killed in the country.
“The happy [man] is the one that God has chosen him to be a martyr.”
He appeared weary and was shown outdoors wearing army fatigues. Osama was last heard from in a July 1, 2006 audio tape.