Arab media reacted cautiously to the beheading of an American civilian on a video issued by an associate of Osama bin Laden, with some newspapers conspicuously playing it down or even ignoring it.

The Islamic militant group that claimed responsibility for last week’s Madrid train bombings has called a truce with Spain to give the new government time to withdraw troops from Iraq, a London-based Arabic-language newspaper said.

A tape recording purporting to be Saddam Hussein calling for an uprising against US and British troops in Iraq was played by two Arab TV stations today.

Kuwaiti television has trumpeted the joy of Iraqis after the fall of Baghdad to US troops, with a presenter saying it is a “slap in the face” to those Arabs who sided with Saddam Hussein.

AN AUDIO tape said to be from Osama Bin Laden accuses the US of plotting to carve up Muslim countries in the Middle East to benefit Israel.

Libya is willing in principle to pay compensation to relatives of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing but is still considering the amount, a minister in Colonel Gaddafi’s government said today.

Abu Nidal, the once-feared terrorist who died mysteriously in Baghdad last month, was not involved in the Lockerbie bombing, his group claimed today.