US warned against new operation in Pakistan

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/190189.html

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says US attempt to go after al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri on Pakistani territory would be "irresponsible."

Musharraf told CNN on Thursday that an attack on Zawahiri in Pakistan would violate the country's sovereignty and fuel anti-US sentiment.

Musharraf also denied having any knowledge that Osama bin Laden had been hiding in Pakistan for five years, DPA reported.

"I had no idea that he was living in Abbottabad," Musharraf said.

Relations between Islamabad and Washington have deteriorated since a US attack in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad allegedly killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on May 2.

Zawahiri, who is widely believed to be near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was named by al-Qaeda as bin Laden's successor in June.

Zawahiri was in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation in 1970s and 1980s, working as a doctor. That was when the United States was providing several hundred million dollars a year in aid to Afghan Mujahedeen militants fighting the Soviet Army.