Al-Jazeera: Bin Laden Heard on Tape

by Salah Nasrawi
The Associated Press
September 9, 2002
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&ncid=716&e=4&u=/ap/20020909/ap_on_re_mi_ea/attacks_bin_laden

 

CAIRO, Egypt - The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera said Osama bin Laden can be heard naming four of the Sept. 11 hijackers on a new videotape the station partially aired on Monday.

There was no way to verify whether the voice heard on the video clip belonged to bin Laden or when the recording was made. The al-Qaida leader's whereabouts are unknown and he did not appear in the excerpts shown across the Arab world on Monday.

"As we talk about the conquests of Washington and New York we talk about those men who changed the course of history," a male voice, attributed to bin Laden, is heard saying in Arabic.

In the excerpts, he identified four of the Sept. 11 hijackers — Mohamed Atta, Marwan Al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah and Hani Hanjour — as ringleaders and prayed for their souls.

The 19 hijackers were described as "great men who deepened the roots of faith in the hearts of the faithful and reaffirmed allegiance to God and torpedoed the schemes of the crusaders and their stooges, the rulers of the region."

Bin Laden has not been heard from since shortly after the U.S.-led bombing campaign began in Afghanistan last October.

Al-Jazeera, which has aired several al-Qaida videotapes since last year's attacks, said it would air the latest video in full on Thursday. According to the station, the tape was made in the eastern Afghan town of Kandahar but it was not clear whether that meant that the scenes were filmed there or the narration was added there.

The tape also included old footage of several young men identified as some of the hijackers during training last year in Afghanistan. They appeared to be looking at maps, including one of the Washington D.C. area, and manuals of cockpit gadgetry.

At least one computer and several books in English could be seen sitting on desks and a hand was shown pointing at the site of the Pentagon on one map.

Another excerpt showed a man identified as hijacker Abdulaziz Alomari leaving what appeared to be a farewell message.

"God may reward all those who trained me on this path and who were behind this noble act and a special mention should be made of ... Sheik Osama bin Laden, may God protect him" Alomari and Atta were aboard American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Center.

In April, Al-Jazeera aired a tape that included a farewell message from hijacker Ahmed Alhaznawi, who was on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pa.

Al-Jazeera said over the weekend that one of its correspondents had interviewed two top al-Qaida fugitives wanted in the terrorist attack. According to the interview, reportedly conducted in June with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh, the U.S. Congress was the fourth American landmark on al-Qaida's Sept. 11 hit list and the terror group also considered striking U.S. nuclear facilities.

U.S. counterterrorism officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said many of Mohammed's statements about the origins of the Sept. 11 plot are plausible, but they have no information that would verify those claims.

The interview is scheduled to air on Thursday.

 

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