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Bin Laden has not been seen alive since 2001
An Arabic news channel has broadcast what it says is an audio recording of Osama Bin Laden praising anti-Western attacks committed as recently as last month.
A voice, purported to be that of the al-Qaeda leader, was heard commending attacks in Bali, Kuwait, Yemen and the takeover of a Moscow theatre by Chechen rebels. The voice also issued a warning to citizens of countries allied to the US.
The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television did not say how it obtained the recording.
Bin Laden is widely blamed for the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States and for terror campaigns against other targets around the world.
The Saudi dissident's fate has been the centre of intense speculation since the US launched a bombing campaign against al-Qaeda and the Taleban Government in Afghanistan at the end of 2001.
If authenticated, the recording would be the clearest indication yet that Bin Laden survived the American-led campaign.
Warning
The voice on the tape referred to events since "the battles of New York and Washington", including, most recently, the Moscow theatre siege, which ended on 26 October. The speaker also mentioned the Bali bombing, in which nearly 200 people died; the killing of a US marine in Kuwait; and the bombing of a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, all of which took place last month.
The voice said these attacks were "only a reaction undertaken by sons who are zealous in the defence of their religion".
He said the attacks were in response to "what [US President George W] Bush is doing, killing our sons, our old people and children by American planes in Palestine".
The voice warned that America's allies - specifically Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Australia - would also be targeted if they continued to support Washington.
"Do your governments not know that the White House gang are the biggest butchers of the era?... Why should your governments ally themselves with America?" the speaker asked.
He warned the United States and its allies "As you kill you will be killed."
Opinion divided
The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner said the audio tape carried a message true to al-Qaeda's style.
Our correspondent says it is certainly characteristic of Bin Laden to praise attacks blamed on al-Qaeda without directly taking responsibility. Using computer technology, US security analysts should be able to quickly determine if the voice does indeed belong to the al-Qaeda chief.
Despite a lack of concrete proof one way or another for more than a year, speculation as to whether Bin Laden is dead or alive has been rife.
Last Friday, the head of Interpol, Ronald Noble, told a French newspaper Bin Laden was "well and truly alive".
However, several leading figures in the war on terror - including Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and FBI counter-terrorism chief, Dale Watson - have suggested Bin Laden is most likely dead.
Al-Jazeera has played a series of messages in the past two months that it says are from the al-Qaeda leader.
In September, the network played a recording of what the CIA authenticated to be Bin Laden's voice naming all 19 hijackers from the 11 September attacks.
But officials said the recording might have been made months earlier.
http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2455143.stm
An Arabic news channel has broadcast what it says is an audio recording of Osama Bin Laden praising anti-Western attacks committed as recently as last month.
A voice, purported to be that of the al-Qaeda leader, was heard commending attacks in Bali, Kuwait, Yemen and the takeover of a Moscow theatre by Chechen rebels. The voice also issued a warning to citizens of countries allied to the US.
The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television did not say how it obtained the recording.
Bin Laden is widely blamed for the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States and for terror campaigns against other targets around the world.
The Saudi dissident's fate has been the centre of intense speculation since the US launched a bombing campaign against al-Qaeda and the Taleban Government in Afghanistan at the end of 2001.
If authenticated, the recording would be the clearest indication yet that Bin Laden survived the American-led campaign.
Warning
The voice on the tape referred to events since "the battles of New York and Washington", including, most recently, the Moscow theatre siege, which ended on 26 October. The speaker also mentioned the Bali bombing, in which nearly 200 people died; the killing of a US marine in Kuwait; and the bombing of a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, all of which took place last month.
The voice said these attacks were "only a reaction undertaken by sons who are zealous in the defence of their religion".
He said the attacks were in response to "what [US President George W] Bush is doing, killing our sons, our old people and children by American planes in Palestine".
The voice warned that America's allies - specifically Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Australia - would also be targeted if they continued to support Washington.
"Do your governments not know that the White House gang are the biggest butchers of the era?... Why should your governments ally themselves with America?" the speaker asked.
He warned the United States and its allies "As you kill you will be killed."
Opinion divided
The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner said the audio tape carried a message true to al-Qaeda's style.
Our correspondent says it is certainly characteristic of Bin Laden to praise attacks blamed on al-Qaeda without directly taking responsibility. Using computer technology, US security analysts should be able to quickly determine if the voice does indeed belong to the al-Qaeda chief.
Despite a lack of concrete proof one way or another for more than a year, speculation as to whether Bin Laden is dead or alive has been rife.
Last Friday, the head of Interpol, Ronald Noble, told a French newspaper Bin Laden was "well and truly alive".
However, several leading figures in the war on terror - including Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and FBI counter-terrorism chief, Dale Watson - have suggested Bin Laden is most likely dead.
Al-Jazeera has played a series of messages in the past two months that it says are from the al-Qaeda leader.
In September, the network played a recording of what the CIA authenticated to be Bin Laden's voice naming all 19 hijackers from the 11 September attacks.
But officials said the recording might have been made months earlier.
http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2455143.stm
