October 11, 2001	Thursday	Rajab 23, 1422

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DUBAI, Oct 10: Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda group threatened on Tuesday night that hijacked plane attacks on the United States would continue in a battle that would not end until the US withdrew from Muslim lands.

Spokesman Sulaiman Bu Ghaith said in a message carried on Qatar’s al-Jazeera satellite television that the group believed in “terrorism against oppressors”.

Washington responded by saying that its anti-terrorism campaign would put a stop to such boasts.

“Chilling words from a terrorist, the kind of words you expect to hear from an evil person with no good intention in mind,” said Secretary of State Colin Powell.

A Jazeera official said the station had received the video recording of Bu Ghaith’s statement in Kabul on Tuesday.

Bu Ghaith, who had appeared with Osama on a recorded statement issued via Jazeera on Sunday, is a wanted man in his homeland, Kuwait, where he was an imam at a mosque.

“Americans should know...The storm of the (hijacked) planes will not stop,” he said, referring to the suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington last month.

Referring to those who carried out the attacks, Bu Ghaith said that “they did good by taking the battle into the heart of America” and that the United States should know such attacks will not end.

His statement fell short of admitting any Al Qaeda involvement in the attacks, but reiterated Osama’s praise of the perpetrators in his videotaped remarks released on Sunday. —Reuters