US intelligence confident voice on video is Osama's
Posted: 08 September 2007 1416 hrs

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WASHINGTON : US intelligence believes the voice on a video tape released Friday belongs to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, officials said.

An initial technical analysis of the videotape by the CIA "suggests that the voice is indeed that of bin Laden," one US intelligence official told AFP.

"I think people are pretty confident it is his voice," said a second official.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity.

The second official said the tape is believed to have been produced as recently as early August because of Osama's reference to the 62nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6.

It would be the Al-Qaeda leader's first video since October 2004, confirming that he is alive despite rumors over the years that he may be ill or dead.

"That's one of the things he's trying to demonstrate: that he's alive, still the leader," said the official.

"I think the initial take is that he's trying to communicate to the west," he said.

Two intelligence officials said the video tape appeared to contain no specific threats of an attack on the United States.

But bin Laden vowed "to continue to escalate the killing and fighting against you" in Iraq.

One of the two officials said the video tape was "relatively current."

"He mentions the Hiroshima date. That could have been done at any time. But it was probably around that time."

Osama also mentions French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which would date video tape to May or June when they came to power. - AFP/ch