New Osama Bin Laden video surfaces; Al Qaeda head blasts Pakistani leaders as 'Allies of Satan'

New Osama Bin Laden video surfaces; Al Qaeda head blasts Pakistani leaders as 'Allies of Satan'

WASHINGTON - Osama Bin Laden told Pakistanis their leaders are "allies of Satan" in a newly released tape, urging them to fight the offensive in tribal areas where Al Qaeda and the Taliban are entrenched.

Bin Laden zeroed in on the Swat Valley and the Pashtun tribal belt on the Afghan border for his 32nd taped rant since the 9/11 attacks.

The Pakistani army has fought extremists in Swat who are imposing a brutal version of shariah, or Islamic law. The army has also moved against Waziristan - home turf of Taliban, Al Qaeda leaders and friendly warlords.

"Are you for the establishment of the shariah or are you for those who wage war against it, from America, [Pakistani President] Zardari and his aides?" Bin Laden said, according to a transcript of the tape provided to the Daily News.

"Zardari and his army are the allies of Satan."

NEFA Foundation terror expert Evan Kohlmann, who obtained the recording and transcript, said it was distributed to jihadi Web sites Saturday by Bin Laden's As-Sahab propaganda wing.

"He's encouraging Pakistani Islamists to fight to the death, and resist all temptations to surrender," Kohlmann said. "There are punishments \[by God\] worse than death for those who are traitors to the cause."

The Al Qaeda leader, who has been hunted by the CIA in Waziristan, the North-West Frontier Province and Swat, said Pakistan's army was "fighting from the same trench as America in the war against Islam."

Addressing President Obama directly, Bin Laden said the "liberated souls" who carried out the 9/11 hijackings had never tasted the hardships of Palestinians - yet fought for them. "What if they had tasted their calamities and woes?" he asked.

With more than a million refugees fleeing the fighting in Pakistan and living hand to mouth, Bid Laden said: "Obama and his administration have sowed new seeds of hatred for America and the desire to seek revenge."

"The number of seeds equals the number of afflicted and homeless in the Swat valley and the tribal regions of North and South Waziristan," Bin Laden warned.