LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he has seen evidence pointing to Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect behind attacks on New York and Washington last week.
Blair, who is engaged in a series of crisis talks with world leaders on how to respond to the deadly attacks, said the world must act against the perpetrators of "the worst terrorist incidents of all time."
In an interview on BBC World Service radio, the British premier said "There is no doubt at all that he (bin Laden) is the prime suspect."
Asked whether he had seen evidence himself, Blair said: "Yes of course. All the time we are going through evidence that comes to us from various sources, and what is important is that when we proceed, we proceed on the basis of a hard-headed assessment of that evidence."
He said such evidence would be presented to the public only when the time was right. "When we're in a position to put evidence before people we will put it before them," Blair said.
Afghanistan's Taleban leaders, who have said bin Laden is a "guest" in their country, said today they would consider surrendering him only if they had proof that he masterminded the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in which thousands of people were killed.
"Give us proof that he did it, because without that how can we give him up?" the Taleban's Information Minister Qudrutullah Jamal told Reuters.
Blair begins tomorrow a rapid tour taking him to Berlin, Paris, New York, Washington and Brussels, intensifying efforts to build a global coalition to support the United States in its drive to punish those behind the attacks.
Blair rejected suggestions that President Bush, who said on Monday that he wanted bin Laden "dead or alive," wanted other nations' backing as window dressing for action he would take anyway.
"I've no doubt at all that America will act, because America has to defend itself in this situation - but America will want and should have, its allies standing alongside it."
- REUTERS
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