Zawahiri urges Afghans to rise against ‘Crusader pigs’

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri urged Afghans to rise up against “Crusader pigs” in an audio message on Wednesday, after he referred to the burning of the Quran by U.S. soldiers last month.

Zawahiri also made reference to an online video in which U.S. Marines were shown in an online video urinating on the corpses of Taliban militants in January.

The message, which the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said was posted on extremist forums, mentioned a series of scandals in Afghanistan that have sent U.S.-Afghan tensions soaring.

But the message made no reference to a massacre of 16 Afghan civilians by a U.S. soldier in southern Afghanistan earlier this month, which has further complicated relations between Washington and Kabul and prompted calls for an accelerated withdrawal of foreign forces.

“Allah disclosed the Americans through the tape that appeared on the Internet showing the Crusader pigs of the Marines as they urinated on the body of an Afghan mujahed, may the vast mercy of Allah be upon him,” Zawahiri said in Arabic in his audio speech, according to a SITE translation. Read More