US says LA and Melbourne threat 'propaganda'

WASHINGTON - A videotape threatening al Qaeda attacks on Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia, appears to be a propaganda ploy from the militant network, timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States, US officials said.

The videotape, aired on Sunday by ABC News, featured an American-sounding man with a concealed face whom officials believe to be Adam Yahiye Gadahn, an Islamic convert from Southern California wanted for questioning by the FBI.

"Yesterday, London and Madrid," the masked man says, referring to the mass-killings from bombings of trains in London and Madrid.

"Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, Allah willing. And this time, don't count on us demonstrating restraint and compassion."

An American speaker may have been chosen to issue the threat against Los Angeles to make the message appear more ominous, officials said. Concerns about local cells supporting al Qaeda have been heightened by the July 7 bombings in London, in which four British Muslims killed themselves and 52 other people.

Australia's national security agencies are investigating the statements but, on initial appearances, say they appear to be authentic.

Despite its likely authenticity, Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock urged the public not to place too much weight on the threat.

Mr Ruddock noted Gadahn had made threats against Western interests before -- in a video released last October -- but it had come to nothing.

A technical analysis of the videotape, which ABC received in Pakistan, suggests the speaker is the same man who appeared in a tape that surfaced in October and warned of a massive attack on the United States, a counterterrorism official said.

"The thinking is that it's the same voice," the official said.

Officials submitted the 2004 tape to weeks of technical analysis before saying they were confident, but not certain, that the speaker was Gadahn.

The FBI says Gadahn trained at terrorist camps in Afghanistan after converting to Islam in the 1990s.

But Gadahn's aunt has cast doubt on whether the masked terrorist is her nephew.

Nancy Pearlman, who has not seen Gadahn for seven years, is certain of one thing.

If the terrorist on the tape is Gadahn, it is not the gentle, loving nephew who she helped raise on a goat farm outside Los Angeles.

US authorities showed Pearlman the tape yesterday to help confirm whether it was Gadahn, whose eyes only are visible.

"The guy's masked, how can you tell?" Pearlman, a resident of Los Angeles, told Southern California's Press-Enterprise newspaper. 

Gadahn was raised on his family's goat farm in the outlying LA suburb of Winchester and in his teenage years moved in with his grandparents to Santa Ana, another Southern California town.

It was then, aged 16, he joined the Islamic Society of Orange County.

It is believed about seven years ago he moved to Pakistan. His family has not seen him since.

"It'd be nice to know if he's alive or dead and that he's innocent of everything," Pearlman said.

Pearlman also told the Los Angeles Times newspaper: "I've watched the video tape and I can't tell. It's not the Adam Gadahn that I knew."

Sunday's videotape threatened attacks against the US and Australian cities and warned that attackers would show no compassion.

But officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because US counterterrorism operations are classified, said there was no evidence of a specific threat.

"It's a propaganda message. It's an attempt to try to intimidate, to try to suggest they're still a force to be reckoned with," said one official.

"We take these things seriously," the official added. "But there's been very little correlation in the past between an al Qaeda statement and the timing or specific location of an attack."

Russ Knocke, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, said: "There is no specific intelligence to substantiate claims on the tape."

"There's no imminent threat to Los Angeles or Melbourne or any other US interests," Knocke said.

"We certainly know al-Qaeda continues to express desires to attack US interests here and abroad. We remain strong and vigilant in our security posture."

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and police chief William Bratton said they were not surprised the tape was released on September 11.

"Bombastic pronouncements are expected on the eve of terrorist incidents like September 11, but we cannot let such pronouncements alter our lifestyle," Villaraigosa and Bratton said in a joint statement.

"We have long known that Los Angeles is a target of terrorism."

The Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington killed about 3,000 people and prompted the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

- REUTERS and AAP