LONDON, July 15: An editor of a London-based Arabic newspaper has claimed that Osama bin Laden is alive and has recovered from shrapnel wounds sustained in the US attack on Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountains last year.

Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based al-Quds Arabic newspaper, was quoted by British newspapersa as saying that Osama’s associates had informed him the Al Qaeda chief was in good health, but would “not appear on video until Al Qaeda had launched another attack on the US”.

Atwan said Osama was injured in the US-led coalition’s attack in December, but escaped with his wounds.

He claimed that Osama’s followers were now seeking maximum publicity through an attack on the US in an attempt to capitalize on Arab fury with the United States for its support to Israel and its plans to attack Iraq.

“They said they would attack and take advantage of the political climate in the Arab world at a time when there is a lot of hatred against the United States,” the editor was quoted as saying.