Bin Laden deputy calls for more attacks

An audio tape said to be of Osama bin Laden’s top aide urging attacks on British and US diplomatic missions and businesses was played on Gulf satellite TV station al-Jazeera today.

Qatar based Al-Jazeera said the voice on the tape was bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahri who called on Muslims to imitate the September 11 attacks on the US.

“Consider your 19 brothers who attacked America in Washington and New York with their planes as an example,” a strong voice could be heard saying as the station showed a file photo of a white-turbaned al-Zawahri.

“Attack the missions of the United States, the UK, Australia and Norway and their interests, companies and employees. Turn the ground beneath their feet into an inferno and kick them out of your countries,” said the tape.

“Know that you are not alone in this battle. Your mujahadeen brothers are following the enemies as well and are lying in wait for them.”

The voice was similar to al-Zawahri’s, judging from previous audiotapes and videotapes attributed to the Egyptian militant.

Al-Jazeera said it would air the entire three-and-a-half minute tape later today.

The station did not immediately say when or how it obtained the tape.

In the tape, the speaker lashed out at Arab leaders for offering “airports and the facilities” the allied troops, an apparent reference to the US.-led war on Iraq.

“Here is Saudi Arabia, where planes are launched from their airports, from its lands. Here is Kuwait, where the heavy armies march from its lands.

"Here is Qatar, where the command of the campaign is based there. Here is Bahrain, the command of the Fifth Fleet remains inside it.

"Here is Egypt, the marine ships pass through its canal.

"Here is Yemen, the crusader ships are provided with fuel. Here is Jordan, where the crusader troops are present, and the batteries of the Patriot missiles are erected there to protect Israel.”

The whereabouts of al-Zawahri and bin Laden have been unclear since the US led war on al-Qaida and the Taliban dislodged them from Afghanistan

American intelligence officials have cited a tape that appeared in November as an indication bin Laden survived heavy US bombing of his Afghan hideout after the September 11 attacks and probably is with al-Zawahri in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

The last public statement attributed to al-Zawahri was in February, in an on-line militant newsletter. That statement called on Muslims to respond to oppression with violence, an expert said Sunday.

The last audiotape purportedly from al-Zawahri surfaced in October 2002. A US official said then that the tape, in which al-al-Zawahri threatened new attacks on the United States, appeared to have been recorded weeks earlier and seemed genuine.