Al-Qaeda says it is holding US hostage (Lead)
December 2nd, 2011 - 8:47 am ICT by IANS
Washington, Dec 2 (IANS) A US aid worker has been held hostage by Al-Qaeda, the extremist group’s chief Ayman al-Zawahiri stated Thursday in a video.
Warren Weinstein was kidnapped from Pakistan’s Lahore city by armed men, the Guardian reported.
Al-Qaeda abducted the elderly USAID contractor Aug 13. Zawahiri, in the video, termed him being “neck-deep in American aid to Pakistan”.
Weinstein, a development expert, has lived in Pakistan for seven years and headed the office of an American contractor working for the US government’s agency for international development to enhance Pakistan’s dairy and gem trades.
“Just as the Americans detain whomever they suspect may be connected to al-Qaida or the Taliban even in the slightest of ways, we have detained this man who has been involved with US aid to Pakistan since the 1970s,” said Zawahiri.
Zawahiri also said that the White House could secure his release by halting air strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, and releases the 1993 World Trade Centre bombers and relatives of Osama bin Laden.
Zawahiri, who had been a long-standing deputy to bin Laden, took over the Al-Qaeda chief’s post this year after the latter was killed in a Pakistani town by US special forces in May.
- Al-Qaeda says it is holding US hostage (Second Lead, Changing dateline) - Dec 02, 2011
- Al-Qaeda holding US aid worker hostage in Pakistan - Dec 02, 2011
- US doubts Al Qaeda leader Zawahiri has fled Pakistan - Sep 15, 2011
- Zawahiri praises Osama on new video - Jun 09, 2011
- Zawahiri praises Osama on new video (Lead) - Jun 09, 2011
- Al-Zawahiri appointed new Al Qaeda leader (Second Lead) - Jun 16, 2011
- Al-Zawahiri appointed new Al Qaeda leader (Lead, Changing dateline) - Jun 16, 2011
- Al-Zawahiri, who calls Pakistan a US colony, to head Al Qaeda (Roundup) - Jun 16, 2011
- Al Qaeda chief wants '9/11' of his own - Sep 10, 2011
- Osama did not escape to Pakistan, but headed north: GITMO documents - Apr 26, 2011
- US believes Osama, Mullah Omar in Pakistan: Hillary Clinton - Jul 20, 2010
- Al Qaeda deputy demands Arab armies' intervention in Libya to oust Gaddafi - Apr 15, 2011
- Clinton chose wrong place for Zawahiri claim: Pakistani daily - May 09, 2012
- Al-Zawahiri not in Pakistan: Gilani - May 13, 2012
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bans Qaeda leader Al-Zawahiri book - Nov 11, 2010
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