Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of an American man in Pakistan and demanded the release of prisoners and an end to air strikes in Muslim countries in exchange for his freedom, according to an Internet statement.
Assailants kidnapped Warren Weinstein, an American development expert, in the Pakistani city of Lahore in August. Weinstein, about 70 years old, had been working on a project in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas where Pakistani troops have been battling Islamist insurgents for years.
Zawahri said the group’s demands for Weinstein’s release included the release of all those held by the United States at the Guantanamo detention centre and all others imprisoned for ties to al Qaeda or the Taliban. He also demanded and an end to air strikes by the United States and its allies against militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia and Gaza.
Zawahri also demanded the release of high-profile militants including Ramzi Yousef, imprisoned in the United States for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, serving a life sentence for plotting to attack the United Nations headquarters and other New York City landmarks.
Al Qaeda has tried to wage war on Arab rulers over the past decade through creating cells that used suicide attacks on foreigners and government installations and officials. But the Arab Spring popular uprisings have left al Qaeda on the sidelines, as uprisings brought down veteran heads of state in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen.
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