Embassy bomber 'from Saudi'

2008-07-22 15:51

Islamabad - 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.

"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 on Monday.

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.

"That young man strongly insisted that he take part in this suicide bombing and Allah gave him the courage to do that," he added.

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-Yazid said the attack on the Danish embassy was carefully planned to avoid killing Muslims - adding that Pakistani guards killed in the attack could not call themselves by that name.

"Our colleagues surveyed the target with great care and detail," he said.

"They fully knew about the days on which the embassy dealt with its internal affairs and on that day no ordinary person would come for a visa or for any other work," he said.

Al-Yazid also condemned US-backed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistani government for causing the greatest damage to al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.

"The government which caused most damage to mujahedin (holy warriors), and I say it with great lament, is the government of Pakistan," he said.

"The Pervez (Musharraf) government was first to betray its neighbouring Afghan Mujahedin who gave sacrifices for all Muslims, particularly the Muslims living in Pakistan and stopped the Soviet army from entering Pakistan," he said.

- AFP