An audio recording attributed to Osama bin Laden offered rewards in gold for the killing of top US and UN officials in Iraq or of the citizens of any nation fighting there, including Japan and Italy.
The 20-minute recording, dated Thursday, appeared on two Web sites known for militant Islamic messages. The voice sounded like that of bin Laden and the words were laden with Koranic verse, but the authenticity of the recording could not immediately be verified.
The CIA is looking into the statement, a spokesman said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
"You know that America promised big rewards for those who kill mujahedeen," the speaker said. "We in al-Qaeda organization will guarantee, God willing, 10,000 grams of gold to whoever kills the occupier Bremer, or the American chief commander or his deputy in Iraq."
He was referring to Paul Bremer, the chief US administrator in Iraq, and top military officials.
"For security reasons, the rewards will be given as soon as conditions permit, God willing," the voice said. "As for those who die while killing an occupying solider, the great prize will be for us and for him when God grants him martyrdom, and the smaller prize [the gold] will be for his family."
The US has offered rewards of its own for information leading to the captures or deaths of bin Laden and his top lieutenants, as well as for top figures in the former Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The price on bin Laden's head now stands at US$50 million -- far more than the nearly US$125,000 that 10,000 grams of gold is worth.
The recording promised the same reward for the deaths of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi.
"The United Nations is nothing but a Zionists' tool, even if it worked under the cover of providing humanitarian aid," the voice said. "Whoever kills Kofi Annan or the head of his commission in Iraq or a representative like Lakhdar Brahimi, he will be awarded the same prize of 10,000 grams of gold."
The speaker promised a lesser prize -- 1,000 grams of gold -- to anyone killing a citizen of countries he called "the masters of the veto like Americans and Britons" -- a reference to nations with veto power on the U.N. Security Council.
And he offered 500 grams of gold to anyone killing citizens of countries he called "slaves of the Security Council who are in Iraq, like Japan and Italy."
The context indicated the rewards applied to citizens of those countries who are in Iraq.
With gold selling Thursday on London exchanges for US$387.60 a troy ounce, 10,000 grams of gold was valued at US$124,630, 1,000 grams at US$12,463, and 500 grams at US$6,231.
It appeared to be the first publicized offer by Bin Laden for rewards for the deaths of his enemies. However, a US joint congressional intelligence panel said in a report two years ago that bin Laden had agreed in 1998 to allocate US$9 million in reward money for the assassination of top US intelligence agency officers.
Bin Laden had never been known to offer rewards for missions he had described as followers' religious duty to carry out.
The recordings appeared on Web sites for the Ansar Islam Forum and the Islamic Research Center. Both are clearing-houses for statements by al-Qaeda and other Islamic militant groups. The forum also has a bulletin board on which extremists chat and comment on the statements.
The speaker denounced US plans to hand sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30, calling them a trick to end the resistance that has killed hundreds of US soldiers.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS