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Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for kidnapping US aid worker

Dec 1, 2011, 22:41 GMT

Washington - The leader of the terrorist group al-Qaeda claimed responsibility Thursday for the kidnapping of a US aid worker in Pakistan in August.

Ayman al-Zawahiri said in a video message that the group had kidnapped Warren Weinstein in Lahore on August 13 in retaliation for US detentions of those connected with al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

Washington-based terrorist monitoring group IntelCenter claimed the message was 'significant and signals al-Qaeda's desire to use the kidnapping to send a very public message.'

Weinstein, 63, worked for Virginia-based consulting firm JE Austin & Associates, which runs development projects for USAID in Pakistan's tribal region.

Zawahiri issued a series of demands, including the end of military strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and the release of terrorism suspects being held by the US in the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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