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OBL plans to
release new video
Foreign
Desk Report
CAIRO—The first new images of Osama bin Laden in nearly three years will
be released ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Qaida’s
media arm announced, a move that would end the terror mastermind’s
longest period without a message.
The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday it had no credible
information warning of an imminent threat to the United States, and
analysts noted that al-Qaida tends to mark the Sept. 11 anniversary with
a slew of messages. Still, bin Laden’s appearance would be significant.
The al-Qaida leader has not appeared in new video footage since October
2004, and he has not put out a new audiotape in more than a year.The
announcement and photo appeared in a banner advertisement on an Islamic
militant Web site where al-Qaida’s media arm, Al-Sahab, frequently posts
messages.
“Soon, God willing, a videotape from the lion sheik Osama bin Laden, God
preserve him,” the advertisement read, signed by Al-Sahab. Such
announcements are usually put out one to three days before the video is
posted on the Web. One difference in his appearance was immediately
obvious. |