Purported new bin Laden tape surfaces
Voice criticizes Saudi Arabian regime
Thursday, December 16, 2004 Posted: 6:06 AM EST (1106 GMT)
(CNN) -- A new audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden appeared on Arabic Web sites Thursday, with the voice on the tape saying the current instability in Saudi Arabia is due to the regime there.
The quality of the recording is poor, but al Qaeda expert Paul Eedle says the voice seems to be that of bin Laden.
It could not be immediately determined when the tape was recorded. Experts are examining the recording in an attempt to authenticate it.
A Saudi group linked to al Qaeda had claimed responsibility for a December 6 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in which at least five employees and four attackers were killed.
The claim of responsibility for the Jeddah attack was posted on several Islamist Web sites often used by militants.
A U.S. State Department official had also said that al Qaeda was suspected in the attack.
The Saudi Interior Ministry said the attackers threw explosives at two gates of the sprawling, walled consulate and then entered, exchanging fire with guards.
Asked who the gunmen were, a Saudi Interior Ministry official said they were "wanted" -- but it was unclear if they were al Qaeda members.
Saudi forces killed three of the gunmen and captured two others, both of whom were wounded, the Saudi Interior Ministry said. One of gunmen later died.
Five consular employees -- four local staff members and a contract guard -- were also killed. Four other local staff members were injured and recovering in hospitals, U.S. officials said.
The group that claimed responsibility called itself the Qaeda al Jihad in the Arabian Peninsula.
In the Internet post, the group said: "This operation comes as part of several operations that are organized and planned by al Qaeda as part of the battle against the crusaders and the Jews, as well as part of the plan to force the unbelievers to leave the Arabian Peninsula."
The group said its fighters "managed to enter one of the crusaders' big castles in the Arabian Peninsula and managed to enter the American consulate in Jeddah, in which they control and run the country."
It claimed the fighters killed nine employees of the consulate, including two Americans, and seven Saudi soldiers.
The U.S. Embassy said no Americans were killed or seriously injured.
The group said two of its fighters were killed and that others escaped unharmed.
After the Jeddah attack, President Bush said the incident showed "terrorists are still on the move" trying to get the United States to leave Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
In April, the State Department ordered "nonemergency employees and all dependents of the U.S. Embassy Riyadh and Consulates General Jeddah and Dhahran ... to leave the country," because of security concerns, and urged Americans to defer travel to the kingdom.
As recently as August, a vehicle from the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah was hit by gunfire from a single assailant while driving in the city. The two occupants of the vehicle -- the driver and a consulate American employee, were not injured in the attack.
Al Qaeda-led suicide attacks struck Riyadh housing compounds in May and July of 2003, killing 40 people, most of them Muslims.
In a videotape that aired in November, bin Laden's right-hand man pledged to continue fighting the United States until it changes its policies regarding Muslims.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, in tape broadcast by the Arabic-language Al-Jazeera television network, said there are two ways to deal with Muslims -- "either with respect, or as if our lives and property are available for you to invade."
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