DUBAI - The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, has reportedly praised the perpetrators of anti-Western attacks in Kuwait and Yemen and warned the United States and Israel of more carnage to come.
His statement, faxed to Qatar's Al Jazeera television and carried by Jazeera and at least one Islamist
website (www.islammemo.com), could be the first conclusive proof that the militant survived the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan.
The US struck Afghanistan to flush out bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, its key suspects in the September 11 hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington last year.
The typed text also blasted the US for planning to strike Iraq, and accused Washington of trying to rob Arab nations of their "riches", particularly crude oil.
"We congratulate the Muslim nation for the daring and heroic jihad [holy war] operations which our brave sons conducted in Yemen against the Christian oil tanker and in Kuwait against the American occupation and aggression forces.
"By striking the oil tanker in Yemen with explosives, the attackers struck at the umbilical cord of the Christians, reminding the enemy of the bloody price they have to pay for continuing their aggression against our nation."
The statement, which Jazeera said bore bin Laden's signature, was referring to last week's attack on a Kuwaiti island which killed one US marine and to the October 6 blast which gutted the French-flagged Limburg, killing one crewman.
Kuwait blames the shooting on a local cell indirectly linked to al Qaeda. Yemen, home to many Islamic and suspected al Qaeda militants, says the tanker was deliberately hit.
The statement said Americans and Jews would not have peace until they let Arab nations be, stopped their aggression and stopped "supporting for our enemies".
It also called on Muslims to unite and unleash their "substantial military and economic capabilities against the US".
- REUTERS
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