Zawahiri appeals for quake relief

DUBAI—Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri called on all Muslims to channel help to victims of Pakistan’s devastating quake, in a videotape aired on Al-Jazeera television.
“I call on all Muslims in general and I call on all Islamic humanitarian associations in particular to move to Pakistan to provide help to their Pakistani brothers, and that they do it quickly,” he said Sunday.
“All of us know the vicious American war on Muslim humanitarian work,” added the turbanned Al-Qaeeda number two, who appeared in good health. Zawahiri, with an assault-rifle on his right, apparently made the recording on October 9 as he said he was making his appeal following the massive earthquake that shook South Asia “yesterday”.
“We have been informed with sadness and sorrow about what happened to the Pakistani Muslim people following the earthquake that struck Afghanistan and Pakistan yesterday,” he said. Zawahiri, who is believed to be hiding on the Afghan-Pakistani border, said he and his companions were not in the region hit by the earthquake. “How I would have hoped, together with my brothers ... to have been among you on that day but the agents of America are standing between us and preventing us from helping our Muslim brothers in time of need,” he said.—Agencies