Will use Pak nuke weapons against US: Al-Qaeda

Predicting the "defeat" of Pakistani military in its fight against the Taliban in North West Frontier Province, a top Al-Qaeda commander on Monday warned that if his group takes over Islamabad's nuclear weapons, it will "use them" against the United States.

"We expect that the Pakistani army would be defeated," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, Al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan, said referring to the ongoing military operations in Waziristan and Swat in NWFP bordering Afghanistan.

"God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the Mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans," he said in an interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera television.

Yazid's remarks comes two months after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in late April said that the US was worried about the "unthinkable" in Pakistan -- that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda could topple the government, and get their hands on "the keys to nuclear arsenal."

"The strategy of the (Al-Qaeda) organisation in the coming period is the same as in the previous period: to hit the head of the snake, the head of tyranny -- the US.

"That can be achieved through continued work on the open fronts and also by opening new fronts in a manner that achieves the interests of Islam and Muslims and by increasing military operations that drain the enemy financially," the Egyptian-born militant leader said.