The first new video image of Osama bin Laden in nearly two years was broadcast on al-Jazeera TV, the eve of yesterday's second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The al-Qaeda leader was shown walking through rocky terrain with his top aide, both carrying assault rifles.
In an eight-minute audiotape accompanying the video footage, a speaker identified as bin Laden praises the "great damage to the enemy" on Sept. 11 and mentions five hijackers by name. On a second tape, a voice said to be that of chief deputy Ayman al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans and calls on Iraqi guerrillas to "bury" US troops.
According to terrorism experts, such tapes reassure al-Qaeda sympathizers that the terror network is still a force and its leaders still active and in seeming good health. A tape showing bin Laden would be crucial to that effort and the timing -- a day before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, blamed on al-Qaeda -- highly symbolic.
Al-Jazeera editor-in-chief Ibrahim Hilal said the tapes were given to al-Jazeera on Wednesday, apparently to coincide with the attacks anniversary. The station, he said, decided to immediately broadcast the parts showing bin Laden and al-Zawahri.
Hilal said the tapes contained 1 hour, 45 minutes of footage but only eight minutes showing the al-Qaeda leaders. The rest of the footage, which was produced by a company called Al-Sahhab, includes "achievements" of the terrorist group, Hilal said without elaborating. He said the station might show additional footage later.
Al-Sahhab is said to specialize "in preparing film material for al-Qaeda," al-Jazeera said Wednesday.
Al-Jazeera says the tapes were produced in late April or early May, but the Arab satellite channel would not say how it obtained them or who by. The video's backdrop resembles the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where US officials believe bin Laden is hiding out.
US intelligence officials will review the tapes to try to determine if they are authentic and when and where they were made, officials in Washington said.
Messages from al-Qaeda leaders are sometimes viewed as presaging an attack.
"This is another reminder that they continue to plot to attack us and to attack freedom," Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Wednesday.
US President George W. Bush, asked about the tape during a tour of forensics labs at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, said he had not heard it yet.
The voice identified as bin Laden praises the Sept. 11 hijackers.
"Those men caused great damage to the enemy and disturbed their plans," the speaker says, calling them true believers who should become an ideal for other believers.
He makes no direct threatening remarks, but the voice said to be al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans. A religious song could be heard in the background of the alleged bin Laden audiotape. Both tapes were translated from the Arabic by The Associated Press (AP).
The video image of bin Laden appeared to be the first since he was shown at a dinner with associates on Nov. 9, 2001, in Afghanistan. That tape was made public a month later.
The tape follows several attributed to other al-Qaeda figures who made a point of saying bin Laden was still active in the fight against the West. The last such message, attributed to an al-Qaeda spokesman, was aired on the Arab television station al-Arabiya on Sunday. Last month, an audio tape attributed to al-Zawahri also stressed that bin Laden was alive and well.
Bin Laden was last heard from on April 7, exhorting Muslims in a tape obtained by AP to rise up against Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other governments he claimed were "agents of America." That audiotape, which CIA analysts said appeared to be authentic, made a vague reference to the Iraq conflict, although it was not specific enough to determine whether it had been recorded before or after the Iraqi war began on March 20.
The videotape shows bin Laden and al-Zawahri dressed in loose-fitting Afghan clothing and flat, rolled brim caps known as pakuls. They walk slowly up and down a rocky hill dotted with green plants. In one shot, bin Laden, in his late 40s and more than 1.8m tall, is assisted by a walking stick in his right hand and wears a blanket over his left shoulder. He shows signs of age since his last video image two years ago; his beard is whiter.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from