A new cassette tape purported to be from Osama bin Laden surfaced today, urging suicide attacks and calling on Muslims to rise up against Arab governments that support the US-led attack on Iraq.
On the tape, the alleged voice of Bin Laden tells the faithful to attack governments in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
”All of them have been imposed upon you and jihad against them is your duty,” the voice on the Arabic language tape says.
The tape was obtained yesterday by the Associated Press from an Algerian national, identified only as ”Aadil”, in remote north-western Pakistan. He said he had slipped across the border from Afghanistan, where the tape was apparently recorded.
There was no way to independently confirm that the voice on the tape is Bin Laden’s. It was translated by an Arabic speaking Afghan who met with the terrorist leader years ago and claims the voice is Bin Laden’s.
There was also no clear indication precisely when the tape was recorded, but from the message it appeared to have been made after the outbreak of war in Iraq last month.
”The United States has attacked Iraq and soon he will also attack Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Sudan. The attacks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt will be against Islamic movements there,” says the voice on the tape.
Peppered with verses from the Koran, the tape makes repeated promises of heaven for those who carry out suicide attacks.
”I ask the Muslim women to join jihad by providing food to mojahedin [holy warriors]. Elders should pray for us. I am proud of those martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of Islam.
”Do not be afraid of their tanks and armoured personnel carriers. These are artificial things,” the voice on the tape says.
”If you started suicide attacks you will see the fear of Americans all over the world. Those people who cannot join forces in jihad should give financial help to those mojahedin who are fighting against US aggression.”
”Aadil” was in Pakistan to locate two colleagues arrested last week in north-west Peshawar at the foot of the Khyber Pass, which links Pakistan and Afghanistan. The two men were wanted for the killing of a Pakistani intelligence officer a month earlier in the border town of Wana, 180 miles south of Peshawar. They were arrested after FBI agents intercepted calls made from a mobile phone.
Bin Laden was given sanctuary in Sudan until 1996 when he fled to Afghanistan, where he was welcomed during the rule of the western-backed government of Burhanuddin Rabbani. President Rabbani’s feuding government was later ousted by the fundamentalist Taliban.
He stayed on in Afghanistan and forged close ties with the Taliban leadership, which refused to hand him over to the US after the September 11 attacks. The Taliban’s refusal resulted in the US assault on Afghanistan in October 2001. – Guardian Unlimited Â