Al-Qaida tried to kill me, says Musharraf

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf claimed today that al-Qaida was behind two assassination attempts against him.

“The man who organised the suicide attacks against me was from Libya and a member of al-Qaida,” Musharraf told a meeting of tribal elders in Peshawar, a city near the Afghan border.

The Pakistani leader, who escaped the December attacks unhurt, did not name the Libyan. He said the Libyan funded Islamic militants to carry out the bombings.

Musharraf had previously said al-Qaida could have played a part in the attacks, but this was the first time he has explicitly identified a suspect.