E-Paper
New Osama 'address to Americans' released
A new audio purported to be an "address to the American public" from Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has been released by the militant network's media branch, a US-based terror monitoring group has said.
A new audio purported to be an "address to the American public" from Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has been released by the militant network's media branch, a US-based terror monitoring group has said.
Al-Qaeda's As-Sahab media released a video featuring a still image of bin Laden and an audio statement, IntelCenter said yesterday, noting that there were no subtitles or transcript yet available.
The release came two days after the United States marked the eighth anniversary of the Al-Qaeda-sponsored September 11, 2001 attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people.
"The video shows a still of bin Laden while the audio statement plays. There is no video footage of bin Laden or of anything else, aside from the graphics surrounding his still. There is no media footage or footage from other groups," IntelCenter said.
The group described the release as "an address to the American public" and said bin Laden typically releases such a statement annually around September or October.
The last audiotape by bin Laden was released June 3. In that missive he scorned US President Barack Obama's overture to the Islamic world and warned of decades of conflict ahead.
That audiotape aired on Qatar's Al-Jazeera news channel less than an hour after Obama landed in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden's home country, at the start of a Mideast tour.
