Al-Qaeda's al-Zawahiri tells Egyptian Muslims fight is not with Christians

Al-Qaeda's leader has said Egypt's majority Muslims should not fight their Christian compatriots, and instead focus their efforts on opposing the military-backed authorities who ousted the country's Islamist president.

It was a rare call by Ayman al-Zawahiri in defence of Christians, who largely supported the coup against Mohammed Mursi and were subsequently targeted by a wave of violence.

In an audio message posted on militant websites, Zawahiri, an Egyptian, said it was not in the interest of Muslims to be engaged with the Christians because "we have to be busy confronting the Americanised coup of [General Abdel-Fattah] el-Sisi and establish an Islamic government."

Sisi, the defence minister, overthrew Mursi after protests demanding he step down. The Coptic church's head supported the coup along with other groups.

"We must not seek war with the Christians and thus give the West an excuse to blame Muslims, as has happened before," Zawahiri said.

He railed against Sisi in particularly strident terms, describing him as the same as the military strongmen who have led Egypt over the past 60 years. "He is a mercenary, an Americanised puppet, an imposter, treacherous and sinful with a history of bootlicking," Zawahiri said.