Bin Laden Calls on Pakistanis to Fight the US

Bin Laden Calls on Pakistanis to Fight the U.S.

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Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the terror attacks on the United States, called on Pakistan's Muslims to fight "the American crusade." "I announce to you, our beloved brothers, that we are steadfast on the path of jihad (holy war) with the heroic, faithful Afghan people, under the leadership of Mullah Mohammed Omar," said a statement provided to Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite channel Monday. The statement was signed by bin Laden and dated Sunday.

In the statement broadcast Monday by Al-Jazeera, bin Laden said he was informed that some "of our Muslim brothers in Karachi (Pakistan) were killed while expressing their opposition to the aggression of the American crusade forces and their allies on Muslim lands in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

He said he was praying to God that they would be accepted as martyrs, and "their children are my children and I will be their caretaker."

"We hope that they are the first martyrs in Islam's battle in this era against the new crusade and Jewish campaign led by the big crusader Bush under the flag of the cross."

Bin Laden said that he was calling on all Muslims in Pakistan to use all they possess and all their effort to stop American troops from going into Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.