New bin Laden video to be released soon, says al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda’s media arm said on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks that it will soon release a new video of Osama...

Al-Qaeda’s media arm said on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks that it will soon release a new video of Osama bin Laden giving the last testament of one of the hijackers.

As-Sahab made the announcement today on a website used by Islamist militants, three days after it released the first video in nearly three years of the world’s most wanted man who has a 50 million dollar bounty on his head.

It did not specifically say whether the release would be a video or audiotape, but showed images of bin Laden and hijacker Walid al-Shehri, suggesting it would be a video.

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“Soon, God willing, testaments of the martyrs of the New York and Washington conquests,” the announcement said.

“Testament of the martyr… Walid al-Shehri, presented by Sheikh Osama bin Laden, God preserve him.”

The image of bin Laden shown on the website was the same as his appearance in the last video, wearing a white robe topped by a beige cloak and with his beard trimmed and dyed in black.

The US-based IntelCenter, which monitors Islamic militant websites, said it would be the sixth such last will to be issued by a 9/11 hijacker and expected it to be released in 72 hours, even within 24 hours.

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Shehri, a Saudi national, was one of the hijackers on an American Airlines flight that hit the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.

In the previous video broadcast on Friday, the elusive al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden mocked the United States as “weak” and vowed to escalate fighting in Iraq.