An Arabic-speaking guerrilla, his face wrapped in a black turban, said the al-Qaida terror network was behind suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco and warned of more attacks in a new videotape.

The United States has launched dozens of new attacks on Taliban frontlines north of Kabul, with several huge explosions reported on the outskirts of the city and on the frontline 30 miles away.

Intense fighting has been reported around the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, with the opposition Northern Alliance claiming to have advanced further towards the strategic city.

The Islamic clerics meeting in Afghanistan to discuss the fate of Osama bin Laden have urged him to leave the country, according to the Taliban Bakhtar news agency.