‘Bin Laden’ Tape Warns of New Attacks

A chilling statement purportedly from Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, on Tuesday warned of severe attacks on the US and its western allies, and hailed recent bombings and shootings by Muslim extremists.

The tape, broadcast by al-Jazeera, the Qatari-based satellite news channel, is being examined by US officials and has yet to be authenticated.

Al-Jazeera did not say how the tape had been received but said the voice sounded like that of Mr bin Laden. It may be the clearest evidence to date that he survived the US-led military onslaught on al-Qaeda’s bases in Afghanistan.

In references to recent attacks ranging from the bombing of a Bali nightclub to the occupation of a Moscow theatre by Muslim extremists, the speaker warned France, Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany and Italy against supporting what he called the evil US.

The message is the second received by al-Jazeera in the past six weeks believed to have been voiced by Mr bin Laden.

Sean McCormack, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said: “We’ve seen these reports, and we will analyse the recording. We don’t know if it’s him or not.” The tape’s speaker said, in a reference to Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary: “The path of peace lies in rejecting aggression...justice will be met with justice. This Rumsfeld is responsible for killing more than 2m people in Vietnam”.

Concern is growing in Washington that al-Qaeda will use a war in Iraq to rally Muslims.

“If it is Osama bin Laden in the tape, then I think there will be a lot of questions of the administration. People will ask why we are going after Saddam Hussein when Osama bin Laden is the one who has killed 3,000 people,” said Daniel Benjamin, a former senior National Security Council counter-terrorism official and author of a study of US counter-terrorism policy.

The tape’s speaker referred to the killing of German tourists on the Tunisian island of Djerba and the seizure of a Moscow theatre by Chechens last month, in which 128 hostages died when Russian special forces stormed it.

There was also a reference to the attack on a French tanker off Yemen, the killing of French engineers in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, the Bali bombing and the killing of a US marine on an island off Kuwait.

“This was nothing more than a reaction, treating like with like, carried out by the sons of Islam,” the recorded voice said.It warned US allies of new attacks if they continued to back the “White House gang of butchers”.

US forces have been hunting Mr bin Laden, identified by the US as the prime suspect in last year’s September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Al-Jazeera has regularly broadcast video and audio statements alleged to have been made by Mr bin Laden.