US agencies scour new tape to locate Laden
Fears all over as top al-Qaeda gun reappears
AP, Beirut
Intelligence analysts were looking for clues to Osama bin Laden's whereabouts in a new videotape that shows him in Afghan garb, walking past wildflowers and tufts of green grass on a rocky mountainside.Afghan officials said Thursday the tape reinforced their belief that bin Laden is hiding across the border in Pakistan, and said it was calculated to boost the morale of al-Qaeda militants on the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The footage was broadcast Wednesday by Al-Jazeera television and is the first new video of bin Laden in nearly two years. In it, the al-Qaeda leader is accompanied by his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, as he hikes over boulders scattered across a hillside of lush green grass. In some scenes, the men carry walking sticks and assault rifles. The landscape resembles the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where US officials believe bin Laden is hiding out. In an eight-minute audiotape accompanying the video footage, a speaker identified as bin Laden praises the "great damage to the enemy" on Sept. 11 and mentions five hijackers by name. On a second tape, a voice said to be that of al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans and calls on Iraqi guerrillas to "bury" US troops. Al-Jazeera said the tapes were produced in late April or early May, but it did not say how or when it obtained them. Intelligence experts in Washington were reviewing the tapes to try to determine their origins, officials in Washington said. Afghan officials claim that al-Qaeda and Taliban are staging incursions from Pakistani soil. Pakistan denies the charge. "Our intelligence sources have told us that al-Zawahri is in Pakistan's tribal areas... Americans know where he is but Pakistan should help as well," said Bismillah Khan, Afghanistan's deputy defense minister. A Western diplomat in Kabul said that bin Laden is believed to be active in the border region. He said, however, that the most recent covert operations of US special forces and Pakistani troops may have forced the al-Qaeda leader to try to cross back into Afghanistan. However, Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said there was no proof bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan. "We do not know where he is. If somebody knows, he should let us know," Rashid said. Reuters adds: The new videotape said to be of Osama bin Laden that was aired by Al-Jazeera TV on the eve of Sept 11 anniversary has revived fears of new terror strikes in US as officials said messages from al-Qaeda leaders sometimes presage an attack. "This is another reminder that they continue to plot to attack us and to attack freedom," Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said on Wednesday.
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