Pakistan slams al Qaeda threat
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Ayman al-Zawahiri is seen with Osama bin Laden in a file photograph.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan has dismissed a taped threat against President Pervez Musharraf by a voice thought to be that of al Qaeda's number two leader.
Excerpts from the audiotape purportedly from Aywan al Zawahiri -- Osama bin Laden's chief deputy -- were aired on two Arabic language satellite channels on Sunday.
The voice on the tape condemned Musharraf's support of Washington's invasion of Afghanistan and called on Pakistanis to oust the president, for what it calls "betraying Islam." Full story)
Pakistan was the main supporter of the Afghanistan's Taliban, but changed its stand under pressure from Washington in the wake of the September 11 attacks on America.
Pakistan's armed forces spokesman said the nation, which is playing a frontline role in hunting al Qaeda remnants, won't be deterred from its war on terrorism by al Qaeda's call to arms.
"People of Pakistan will not buy this threat as they know the ground realities," Shaukat Sultan told CNN on Tuesday.
CIA officials are conducting a technical analysis of the tape. They say it will take a few days to identify whether the voice on the tape is indeed al Zawahiri's.
Al Zawahiri was a medical doctor exiled from Egypt, where he founded and led the outlawed militant Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
He was on the U.S. 'Most Wanted Terrorist' list for his involvement in the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Pakistan has so far arrested more than 450 suspected al-Qaeda members. Nearly all have been handed over to U.S. authorities.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, believed to the No. 3 man in al-Qaeda, was one of their biggest catches.
