Associated Press
 
Miran Shah, Pakistan, May 8: A message distributed to Pakistani tribesmen and said to be from al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden prayed for the assassination of President Pervez Musharraf, declaring him a "slave" of US President George W Bush.

Bin Laden also purportedly called for help of the tribesmen whose homes, the message on the pamphlets said, were destroyed by the Pakistan army in the Waziristan tribal region for "American pleasure."

"I pray to God, without whom there is no other God, that Bush, Pervez and his army meet the fate that they deserve, and give someone among the lions of God the opportunity to kill this slave of Bush in Pakistan," bin Laden purportedly said in the message.

The pamphlets were distributed by suspected local tribal militants on Saturday in Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan tribal region that borders Afghanistan.

The message begins with a paragraph in Arabic that mentions bin Laden’s name, then says in Urdu, Pakistan’s primary language: "(A) new message by Sheikh Osama bin Mohammed bin Laden to Muslims about the atrocities by the Pakistani army on the tribes of Waziristan, the bloodshed and destruction of their homes."

Shaukat Sultan, the top spokesman for Musharraf, would not comment on the authenticity of the statement today. But he urged the media not to "spread" it, referring to a line in the message saying that Muslims who receive it should reprint it and distribute it.