'Bin Laden' threatens US captives

In a new audio message, aired on Al-Jazeera TV yesterday and yet to be authenticated, a man alleged to be bin Laden said that if the US executes Khalid Sheik Mohammed it would mean a "death sentence" for Americans captured by al-Qaida.

Mohammed, who has confessed to plotting the 9/11 atrocities and is accused of involvement in other bombings, is currently in US custody, being held in detention at Guantanamo Bay. The Obama administration, which has been forced to delay attempts to close the military base near Cuba because of political and diplomatic complications, is still debating where to hold his trial.

The US is still considering whether to put him and four fellow plotters before a military tribunal. It is also looking into recommendations for civilian trials, and is expected to announce a decision soon.

The 74-second audio tape said that if the US decides to execute any al-Qaida suspects in its custody – and explicitly mentioned Mohammed – his terror network would kill American captives.

It was directed at "the American people about our prisoners," and the tape said President Barack Obama was following in the footsteps of his predecessor George Bush by escalating the war in Afghanistan, being "unjust" to al-Qaida prisoners and supporting Israel in its occupation of Palestinian land.

"Your master in the White House is following his predecessor in many important issues, like escalating the war in Afghanistan and unfairly treating our prisoners – led by the hero jihadi Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

"The White House declared that they will execute Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and his comrades in arms."

If the United States makes a decision to execute al-Qaida prisoners, "it would be responsible when we execute anyone of you we capture", the tape threatened.

"We have been enduring your masters' oppression for a long time, especially by supporting Israel's occupation of our land in Palestine. Our reaction to that oppression was heard loudly on the 11th, with God's help," an apparent reference to the September 11 attacks.

"Justice is to be treated in the same manner," the message said.

Purported bin Laden messages last emerged in late January. In it, one claimed responsibility for alleged attempted attack on a US airliner on Christmas Day and promised further attacks unless Mr Obama took steps to resolve the Palestinian situation.

Mohammed, who was captured in Pakistan in 2003, is the most senior al-Qaida operative in US custody. In 2008, the US charged him with murder and war crimes in connection with the September 11 attacks which killed 3,000 people when hijacked airliners were crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York, and the Pentagon. Another, which was expected to hit the White House, crashed in Pensylvannia after passengers fought the hijackers.

Pentagon officials have said they will seek the death penalty.

The White House made no immediate comment on the tape but a counter terrorism official dismissed the threat as absurd.