Bin Laden purportedly threatens fresh attacks on US (Roundup)

Jan 19, 2006, 17:52 GMT

Cairo - An audio message attributed to Osama bin Laden said Thursday that al-Qaeda was planning fresh attacks on the United States.

The message, aired on the Arab television channel al-Jazeera and addressed 'to the American people', referred to recent attacks in European capitals and threatened the same for the US.

'As for similar operations taking place in America, it's only a matter of time,' the speaker said, according to a translation by US news channel Cable News Network (CNN).

'They are in the planning stages and you will see them in the heart of your land as soon as the planning is complete.'

'The war on the US and its allies will no longer be restricted to Iraq,' the speaker said, adding Iraq had served as a 'recruitment centre for Islamic potential'.

At the same time, the speaker said Al-Qaeda was offering the US what he called a truce.

An expert on political Islam, Diaa Rashwan, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa that any suggestion of a truce was merely aimed at bringing public pressure to bear on the Bush administration.

'The truce is merely a tactic, not a real offer, and Bin Laden does not expect the Americans to consent to it,' Rashwan said.

Al-Jazeera said the voice on the tape was bin Laden's. There was no independent confirmation.

It was unclear when the tape was recorded, though the plural reference to attacks in European capitals suggests it was made after last year's July 7 London bombings.

If the speaker is indeed bin Laden, it would be his first sign of life since a December 2004 audio message attributed to him.

The U.S. blames bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terror network for the September 11, 2001 suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people.