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Al Qaeda Says It Holds Abducted American Aid Worker in Pakistan
(New York Times) Scott Shane - Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of al-Qaeda, said Thursday that the terrorist group was holding a veteran American aid worker kidnapped in Pakistan in August and demanded the end of airstrikes on militants and the release of prisoners held in the West in return for his freedom. Warren Weinstein, 70, who has lived in Pakistan for seven years, was taken at gunpoint from his home in Lahore on Aug. 13. Addressing imprisoned Qaeda and Taliban members, Zawahri said: "In order to release you, Allah the great and almighty guided us to capture the American Jew Warren Weinstein." In return for Weinstein's release, he demanded free movement of people and goods between Egypt and Gaza; the end of bombing by the U.S. and its allies in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Gaza; the emptying of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and the release of a half-dozen prominent Qaeda prisoners held in the West.