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'9/11 anniversary' video of bin Laden with hijackers
RUSSELL JACKSON
NEWLY-released footage appearing to show the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden meeting some of the 9/11 hijackers was broadcast last night, just days before the fifth anniversary of the strikes.
The Arabic television channel al-Jazeera said the tape documented the "daily life" of al-Qaeda operatives as they trained and prepared in what seems to be the mountains of Afghanistan.
Bin Laden was shown in flowing robes walking through rocky terrain with aides carrying rifles as he greets masked followers. The fugitive terrorist leader was shown smiling as he met several of what the tape claimed to be 11 September hijackers.
Scenes showed training at a camp as masked militants performed martial arts kicks and practised hiding and using folding knives. Others showed one man chopping wood, and another one of a man preparing a meal.
The broadcast coincides with commemorations across the United States of the anniversary of the series of hijackings that killed almost 3,000 people. The SITE institute, which monitors terrorist publications and internet video releases, described the footage as a "9/11 anniversary video".
The broadcast identified two men in the tape as Ramzi Binalshibh, the suspected co-ordinator of the 11 September plot and Abu Hafs al-Masri - a former top lieutenant of bin Laden killed in an US airstrike in Afghanistan in 2001. Binalshibh was captured four years ago in Pakistan and is in custody in the US. Earlier this week, George Bush, the US president, announced plans to put him on military trial.
Newly released US Government papers have put Binalshibh at the centre of a plot to crash hijacked airlines into Heathrow or Canary Wharf in London after the World Trade Centre attacks. They claim he was to be a lead operative in the UK plan which America says was disrupted in 2003.
The broadcast also said the tape showed Abu Turab al-Urduni, who it said trained al-Qaeda operatives. The video contained parts of taped "wills" of two of the 11 September attackers - Wail al-Shihri and Hamza al-Ghamdi.
Ghamdi is believed to have been among a group that took control of a United Airlines flight and crashed it into New York's World Trade Centre in 2001.
"If we accept our humiliation ... the footsteps of the enemy will stretch from Jerusalem to Mecca," a man identified as Ghamdi was shown as saying. The footage also apparently shows Adam Gadahn, an American wanted by the FBI in connection with terrorist threats. He is known as "Azzam the American". The video carried English subtitles throughout.
Ben Venzke, the head of IntelCenter, a private US company that monitors militant message traffic, said it was the fourth video of its kind. Previous videos have been issued by al-Qaeda in April and September 2002 and September 2003.
Mr Venzke said: "They produce long videos like these not just for 9/11, but for any significant events they feel warrant their attention."
He added that the aims were to speak to supporters and raise morale within their own group, help fundraising and as a psychological attack.
Al-Jazeera has not revealed how it obtained the video, which was produced by as-Sahab, al-Qaeda's media branch.
• British architects Lords Foster and Rogers yesterday unveiled their first designs for new towers at the World Trade Centre site.
Lord Foster's skyscraper is topped by four shining diamond-shaped panels that would light up lower Manhattan at night. Lord Rogers has proposed a slender, 71-storey building with criss-crossing beams up and down the sides, crowned by four 100ft spires at its corners in a style reminiscent of an English church tower.
RUSSELL JACKSON
NEWLY-released footage appearing to show the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden meeting some of the 9/11 hijackers was broadcast last night, just days before the fifth anniversary of the strikes.
The Arabic television channel al-Jazeera said the tape documented the "daily life" of al-Qaeda operatives as they trained and prepared in what seems to be the mountains of Afghanistan.
Bin Laden was shown in flowing robes walking through rocky terrain with aides carrying rifles as he greets masked followers. The fugitive terrorist leader was shown smiling as he met several of what the tape claimed to be 11 September hijackers.
Scenes showed training at a camp as masked militants performed martial arts kicks and practised hiding and using folding knives. Others showed one man chopping wood, and another one of a man preparing a meal.
The broadcast coincides with commemorations across the United States of the anniversary of the series of hijackings that killed almost 3,000 people. The SITE institute, which monitors terrorist publications and internet video releases, described the footage as a "9/11 anniversary video".
The broadcast identified two men in the tape as Ramzi Binalshibh, the suspected co-ordinator of the 11 September plot and Abu Hafs al-Masri - a former top lieutenant of bin Laden killed in an US airstrike in Afghanistan in 2001. Binalshibh was captured four years ago in Pakistan and is in custody in the US. Earlier this week, George Bush, the US president, announced plans to put him on military trial.
Newly released US Government papers have put Binalshibh at the centre of a plot to crash hijacked airlines into Heathrow or Canary Wharf in London after the World Trade Centre attacks. They claim he was to be a lead operative in the UK plan which America says was disrupted in 2003.
The broadcast also said the tape showed Abu Turab al-Urduni, who it said trained al-Qaeda operatives. The video contained parts of taped "wills" of two of the 11 September attackers - Wail al-Shihri and Hamza al-Ghamdi.
Ghamdi is believed to have been among a group that took control of a United Airlines flight and crashed it into New York's World Trade Centre in 2001.
"If we accept our humiliation ... the footsteps of the enemy will stretch from Jerusalem to Mecca," a man identified as Ghamdi was shown as saying. The footage also apparently shows Adam Gadahn, an American wanted by the FBI in connection with terrorist threats. He is known as "Azzam the American". The video carried English subtitles throughout.
Ben Venzke, the head of IntelCenter, a private US company that monitors militant message traffic, said it was the fourth video of its kind. Previous videos have been issued by al-Qaeda in April and September 2002 and September 2003.
Mr Venzke said: "They produce long videos like these not just for 9/11, but for any significant events they feel warrant their attention."
He added that the aims were to speak to supporters and raise morale within their own group, help fundraising and as a psychological attack.
Al-Jazeera has not revealed how it obtained the video, which was produced by as-Sahab, al-Qaeda's media branch.
• British architects Lords Foster and Rogers yesterday unveiled their first designs for new towers at the World Trade Centre site.
Lord Foster's skyscraper is topped by four shining diamond-shaped panels that would light up lower Manhattan at night. Lord Rogers has proposed a slender, 71-storey building with criss-crossing beams up and down the sides, crowned by four 100ft spires at its corners in a style reminiscent of an English church tower.
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