NEW YORK, Oct 14: In a taped statement beamed around the world one week ago, Osama bin Laden may have given his aides the go-ahead to launch a new strike against US interests, Time Magazine alleged in Monday’s editions.

The magazine said a former Al Qaeda follower told US intelligence officials that Osama would not normally use the term “I swear to God”, which ended his statement.

In its entirety, the sentence at the end of his pre-recorded message was: “I swear to God that America will not live in peace before peace reigns in Palestine, and before all the army of infidels depart the land of (Holy Prophet) Muhammad (pbuh).”

In the same address, osama defiantly praised the Sept 11 hijack bombings on New York and Washington, saying “a vanguard group of Muslims” was behind last month’s jetliner attacks

However, the Saudi-born millionaire, flanked by commanders of his Al Qaeda network and surrounded by automatic weapons, stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attacks. —AFP