DUBAI: Al Qaeda repeated on Wednesday calls to avenge Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, who was sentenced by the United States to 86 years in jail for trying to kill US personnel in Afghanistan.

In a video published by US-based monitoring group SITE Intelligence Group, Abu Yahya al-Libi called upon Pakistanis to strike American aircraft, centers, and convoys in revenge for the imprisonment of Siddiqui.

“By Allah, a single shot to the face of those unbeliever aggressors is tougher on them and has a greater effect on their persons than hundreds of demonstrations and thousands of screams, no matter if the throats of the protests become hoarse,” he said.

Last month, al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri also called for vengeance, and there have been numerous demonstrations in Pakistan calling for the liberation of Siddiqui, 38.

Shortly after she was arrested in Afghanistan in 2008 on charges of links to al Qaeda, she was visited by US military officers and agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

She seized a gun and fired two shots, without hitting anyone. One of the officers returned fire, wounding her in the stomach.