Al-Qaida's media arm announced yesterday that it will release a new video of Osama bin Laden presenting the last testament of one of the September 11 suicide hijackers, marking the sixth anniversary of the attacks.
The announcement came only days after bin Laden appeared in his first video in three years, giving an address to the American people, lecturing them to abandon capitalism and democracy and convert to Islam.
The announcement came in a banner advertisement posted on an Islamic militant website where Al-Qaida often releases messages and was signed by Al-Sahab, the media arm of bin Laden's Al-Qaida terror network.
"Coming soon, God willing, the testament of the attacks on New York and Washington, Abu Musab Waleed al-Shehri, presented by Sheik Osama bin Laden, God preserve him," the banner read. It showed an image of bin Laden wearing the same black beard and clothes as in the most recent video.
Al-Qaida has marked past anniversaries of the September 11, 2001 attacks by putting out videos of the last will and testaments of some of the hijackers, usually accompanied by comments by top leaders and documentary-style footage.
Last year, for example, al-Sahab released a 55-minute video with the last testimonies of hijackers Wail al-Shehri and Hamza al-Ghamdi. The video included old but previously unreleased footage showing bin Laden strolling through an Afghan training camp where the attacks were apparently planned and chatting with top Al-Qaida lieutenants. The tape was accompanied by another with an address by bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Waleed al-Shehri was one of the hijackers on American Airlines flight 11 that hit the World Trade Center.
Pakistan yesterday rejected US media reports that bin Laden is in the northern Pakistani town of Chitral.
The American CBS News reported on Friday that US intelligence believes bin Laden is hiding out in the Chitral district of northern Pakistan.
"The report is ridiculous," Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson said at a weekly press briefing yesterday in Islamabad.
Chitral is a remote, rugged area which neighbors Afghanistan's Badakhshan province.
Pakistani government, since joining Washington-led anti-terror war, has sent around 90,000 troops to the border areas to hunt Al-Qaida members and Taliban remnants who were believed to have sneaked into Pakistan for shelter.
Source: China Daily/agencies
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