Bin Laden issues threat to kill US captives

OSAMA bin Laden threatened in a new message released yesterday to kill any Americans al-Qaida captures if the US executes the self-professed mastermind of the September 11 attacks or other al-Qaida suspects.

In the 74-second audiotape aired on Al-Jazeera television, the al-Qaida leader explicitly mentions Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who was captured in Pakistan in 2003. He is the most senior al-Qaida operative in US custody and is detained at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2008, the US charged Mohammed with murder and war crimes in connection with the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US Pentagon officials have said they will seek the death penalty for him.