Kill US civilians,says Yemeni cleric in video

The US-born al-Awlaki moved to Yemen in 2004 and is in hiding there after being linked to the suspects in the November shooting at an Army base in Fort Hood,Texas,and the December attempt to blow up a US jetliner bound for Detroit. Faisal Shahzad,a Pakistani-American arrested after a failed attempt to set of a bomb in New York,also said that he was inspired by al-Awlaki.

“Those who might be killed in a plane are merely a drop of water in a sea,” he said in the video in response to a question about Muslim groups that disapproved of the airliner plot because it targeted civilians. Al-Awlaki used the 45-minute video to justify civilian deaths by accusing the US of intentionally killing a million Muslim civilians in Iraq,Afghanistan and elsewhere.

“American civilians are to blame,” he said,because,”the American people,in general,are taking part in this and they elected this administration and they are financing the war.” He added that the Prophet Muhammad also sent forces into battles that claimed civilian lives. The video was produced by the media arm of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The al-Qaeda’s media arm said the video was its first interview with the cleric.

In the video,al-Awlaki praised the Fort Hood shooting accused and the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner. He referred to them as his “students.” Speaking of Major Nidal Hassan,the Fort Hood attacker,the cleric said,“What he did was heroic and great… I ask every Muslim serving in the US Army to follow suit.”“As for the Americans,I will never surrender to them,” he said.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the US is “actively trying to find” al-Awlaki.

‘Militants get Rs 2 lakh for each NATO killing’

LONDON: Amid a western plan to pay insurgents to lay down their weapons in Afghanistan,rebel commanders have said the Taliban militants are earning up to 2 lakh Pakistani rupees for each Nato soldier they kill.

“We can’t lie to commanders: they can check if there was a fight in that area. We get money if we capture equipment too. A gun can fetch US$ 1,000,” said a commander from Khost province.

Taliban rebels are earning up to 2 lakh Pakistani rupees for each NATO soldier they kill,Times Online said on Sunday. “It’s a lot of money for us. We don’t care if we kill foreigners: their blood allows us to feed our families and the more we kill,the more we weaken them,” a commander from Ghazni province said.

NY bomb plot: Man detained in Pak raid

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani police have detained another man on suspicion of having links with Pakistani-American terror suspect Faisal Shahzad,who allegedly tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square in New York,from a market in the heart of the federal capital.

Over two dozen policemen,some in civilian clothes,raided the posh Kohsar Market on Friday night and took the man into custody,officials and a witness were quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper on Sunday.

The man put up some resistance,but was handcuffed and taken in a vehicle to an undisclosed place. Before the raid,the police cordoned off the Sector F-6/3 area,which has several embassies. According to witnesses,the man in his mid-30s came to the market at about 7 pm local time and sat in an open area. He remained busy with his phone,calling or sending messages,before the raid.

A police official denied that any arrest had been made. pti