Al Qaeda Leader Urges Jihadists to Kidnap Westerners, Join Syrian Uprising
- Religion Today
- Published Oct 29, 2012
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Al Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is calling on Muslims to kidnap Westerners in exchange for the release of captured terrorists, CBN News reports. Captured Westerners could be used to negotiate for the release of imprisoned jihadists, like the blind Egyptian sheikh who plotted the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, he said in a two-hour video posted to jihadist websites. "This is the only language which they understand," he said. "We will keep on seizing more ... until we free our captives." Al-Zawahri also urged jihadists to join the uprising to take over Syria, and called for the implementation of sharia (Islamic law) in Egypt. Al-Zawahri, who was born in Egypt, got his start in radical Islam through the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which is now in charge of that country.