Osama bin Laden’s call for Pakistanis to rise up against their US-allied military leader struck a chord among an angry, extremist minority on Friday, but resonated little among the wider public and was dismissed by the government as “ridiculous.”

Thousands of angry tribesmen and Islamists protested today across Pakistan against an airstrike that killed 80 people at a religious school near the Afghan border this week, as state TV aired video footage purportedly showing militants in training there before the attack.

Pakistan has yet to find the bodies of al-Qaida operatives thought to have been killed in a US missile strike more than two weeks ago and is still hunting for fugitive leaders of the terror group, an army spokesman said today.

Al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri threatened more destruction in London, saying in a videotape broadcast today that British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be to blame.

Pakistani attack helicopters and artillery resumed pounding hundreds of al Qaida suspects and tribesmen besieged in mud fortresses where al Qaida number two Ayman al-Zawahri is believed hiding in a Pakistani border region early today.