January 14, 2002	Monday	Shawwal 29, 1422

SYDNEY, Jan 13: A video released on Sunday allegedly showed Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network training terrorists for a mass assassination of world leaders at a golf tournament.

The video tape, obtained by Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV, also showed militants rehearsing a hostage situation where they screamed their commands in English and shot one hostage dead.

ABC said Northern Alliance soldiers discovered the video at an Al Qaeda training camp near Kabul in southern Afghanistan.

A United States special forces veteran advising the Afghan military said bullet holes at head level on the wall of an abandoned school, used as the training camp, suggested live hostages were killed during the soldiers’ apprenticeship.

“They sprayed the room a couple of times and this tells me that at some point they put live hostages in here,” the US veteran told ABC television. He said the video tapes revealed the militants were planning for multiple attacks aimed at the western world. “We’ve seen limited situations but not in this wide range,” he said.

“Not in a wide range that includes motorcades, close quarter battle, integrated assaults, open air assaults ... a whole spectrum of terrorist activities.”

The most frightening footage was the rehearsal for a mass murder of national leaders at a golf tournament. The attackers carried their weapons onto the course in golf bags and used a rocket-propelled grenade to kill officials.

The video also showed a Taliban defence ministry car being used for a mock kidnapping off the street. The tapes, broadcast on ABC television on Sunday, were believed to be the first comprehensive record of Al Qaeda militant training.

More than six hours of amateur video tape showed Arab, Pakistani and African militants rehearsing the detailed scenarios for terrorist attacks, the ABC said.

A spokesman for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) said Australia was aware of the video and its existence had been officially noted.

“We obviously have a great interest in all aspects of the campaign and that would be one of them,” he said.—AFP