Islamabad, July 22:

A senior Al Qaeda leader said in a rare television interview that a suicide attacker who bombed the Danish embassy in Pakistan last month came from Saudi Arabia.

Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, an Egyptian Al Qaeda commander based in Afghanistan, told Pakistan’s private Geo Television that the bomber was a young man who had come to the region to wage holy war in Afghanistan or Kashmir. Al-Yazeed first claimed Al Qaeda’s responsibility for the attack in an internet posting soon after the bombing.

“The attacker of the Danish embassy was a member of Al Qaeda belonging to that land which is most dear to Allah and his prophet, peace be upon him,” Al-Yazid said in the interview first shown late yesterday.

The channel said the interview was recorded a few days ago in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Khost.

The embassy bombing killed six Pakistanis, one of them with dual Danish nationality, and came amid anger in the Muslim world over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed first printed in Danish newspapers in 2005.

“This young martyr came from the holy land of Mecca to wage jihad in Afghanistan or Kashmir, but when infidels committed blasphemy he did not like to live with that insult,” Al-Yazid said.

The bespectacled, bearded Al-Yazid has been named by US officials as Al Qaeda’s commander in Afghanistan and was identified by the 9/11 Commission as the group’s chief financial manager.

Al Qaeda man lashes out at Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: A senior Al Qaeda 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, Al Qaeda commander in Afghanistan Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed praised Pakistani tribesmen for helping Afghans fight — a reference to the Taliban-led insurgency in the country — but lashed out at the Pakistan government. “Musharraf and his government has committed crimes for which there are no examples in the entire world,” he said. Al-Yazeed said that secret organisation — an apparent reference to Pakistani spy agencies — had “arrested Arab mujahedeen 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.

Al-Yazeed also called for more Pakistanis to fight against the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. — AP