Bin Laden's Group Threatens Prolonged Attacks on US

Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda group said on October 9 that hijacked plane attacks on the United States would continue and that the "battle" would not end until America withdrew from Muslim lands.

Al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Bu Ghaith said in a message carried on Qatar's al-Jazeera Television that the group believed in "terrorism against oppressors".

"Americans should know...The storm of the (hijacked) planes will not stop," he said, referring to the suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington last month.

"Let America know that this battle will not leave its land until it exits our land, and until they stop supporting the Jews and lift the unjust sanctions on Iraq," he said.

The station did not explain the origin of the statement but it appeared to be a video recording. Bu Ghaith had appeared with bin Laden on a recorded statement issued via Jazeera last Sunday.

Referring to those who carried out the suicide plane attacks, he said that "they did good by taking the battle into the heart of America" and that the United States should know such attacks will not end.

US President George W. Bush has named bin Laden as the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States, and has launched attacks on Afghanistan and its Taliban regime to try to hunt him and his network down.

"The crusade that Bush had promised has started," Bu Ghaith said. He said Muslims were now obliged to fight a holy war or jihad against the United States and suggested that they should target US interests across the world.

"US interests are spread everywhere in the world. Every Muslim should carry out his full role," he said.

"Let them know that by invading the land of Afghanistan, they opened a new page of enmity and conflict between us and the infidel forces."






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