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WASHINGTON - The US government said on Friday it was analyzing a copy of the latest video message from Osama bin Laden as the CIA warned Al-Qaeda was plotting fresh attacks on the United States designed to inflict massive casualties.
US authorities were examining a video said to be a message from Osama marking Tuesday's anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people, a senior US official said.
"I can confirm that USG has the video and it is currently being analyzed," a senior administration official told AFP, referring to the US government.
The video, reported late Thursday by US-based monitors that follow militant websites, would be the first such appearance by the Saudi extremist since October 2004, when he threatened new attacks against the United States just days before a US election.
CIA Director Michael Hayden meanwhile warned in a speech that the intelligence agency believed Al-Qaeda was planning new, large-scale attacks on US targets.
"Our analysts assess with high confidence that Al-Qaeda's central leadership is planning high impact plots against the American homeland," Hayden told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
"Al-Qaeda is focusing on targets that would produce mass casualties, dramatic destruction and significant economic aftershocks," he added.
The Al-Qaeda network's media arm, as-Sahab, announced the purported Osama video in a notice posted on jihadist forums at about 2115 GMT, according to SITE, a group which monitors extremist websites.
"Soon, God willing, a videotape from the lion sheikh Osama bin Laden, God preserve him," the notice in Arabic read.
A website used by Islamist militants that carried the notice showed a photo of Osama in which his black beard did not have the usual streaks of gray.
He was also not wearing a camouflage jacket as in some previous appearances. Instead, the top-half photo showed him wearing a white robe topped by a beige cloak, similar to the traditional dress of men in the Gulf region, and looking more like a Muslim cleric than a fighter.
The video of the soft-spoken Al-Qaeda leader, who has claimed credit for the 9/11 attacks, will be examined intently with every word and visual detail dissected by intelligence agencies in Washington and around the world.
Osama bin Laden has avoided capture since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people.
He has since inspired an eruption of anti-Western attacks while his Al-Qaeda network has repeatedly threatened to attack US targets again.
Frances Townsend, the US president's homeland security adviser, said on Thursday any video message would be followed closely and that the capture of Osama remained a top priority.
She called messages from Al-Qaeda an attempt to frighten Americans.
"We're being manipulated every time that they issue a statement, because they're trying to use the media as a way to terrorize us," she told CNN.
President George W. Bush declared a "war on terror" after 9/11 and said he wanted Osama "dead or alive," but the Al-Qaeda chief disappeared after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan to topple Al-Qaeda's Taliban allies.
He has since popped up on videos and audio messages to rail against the United States and its allies.
Widely believed to have slipped away during a December 2001 battle in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains, Osama is now thought to be hiding in the remote tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Another US-based monitor of extremist websites, IntelCenter, said Thursday it expected the video to be released within 72 hours. It noted that as-Sahab usually releases one video or more to commemorate the 9/11 attacks.
Indeed, "a release by Osama bin Laden has been expected for much of this year," it said.
Separate from the notice promoting Osama's latest video message, monitors said an extremist forum included a reference to a "gift" coming on the 9/11 anniversary.
An analyst at the SITE Intelligence Group said the "gift" was most likely referring to the Osama video or another online propaganda item and not an imminent attack on US soil.
Born in 1957 in Saudi Arabia into a family that originated from Yemen, Osama fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and embraced the idea of Muslims uniting against the West.
In Afghanistan, he commanded and financed his own brigade of militants that evolved into Al-Qaeda.
- AFP /ls
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