WASHINGTON, Sept 12: CIA analysts have concluded that a voice on a videotape aired this week by the Al Jazeera television news station was “probably” that of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a CIA official said on Friday.

The assessment came a day after the agency’s analysts said they had “high confidence” that an audiotaped message on the tape attributed to Al Qaeda number two, Ayman Zawahiri, was authentic.

“After further analysis of the tape that aired on September 10, the CIA assesses that the voice is probably that of Osama bin Laden,” the official said.

“Keep in mind that there are no date specific references in his portion of the tape, and therefore it could have been recorded at any time,” he said.

Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri’s voices were contained in a videotape showing the two climbing through rocky mountain slopes.

It was aired by Al Jazeera on the eve of the second anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

In it, Osama praised the suicide hijackers who flew commandeered airlines into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, saying they “understood the meaning of ‘There is no God but God.’”—AFP