US sees no sign of 'impending attack' in Bin Laden tape


The United States sees no sign of a trigger for a terror attack in the latest message from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a counter-terrorism official told AFP on Monday.

"I am not aware of any specific or credible threat attached to this particular message. People are continuing to review it," the official said.

"I haven't yet heard of any sign of this being a signal for an impending attack."

In a tape released on Sunday Bin Laden warned US President Barack Obama that he is "powerless" to halt the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and must rethink his policy on Israel.

It was the Al-Qaeda leader's first message for three months.

Titled "Message to the American People," the video -- released by the As-Sahab media branch of Al-Qaeda -- features a still image of Bin Laden and an audio statement, said the IntelCenter US monitoring group.

The official said the fact that Bin Laden was not filmed may not be significant.

"I wouldn't necessarily read too much into that. They've done this before."

"The working assumption remains that bin Laden is alive."

Bin Laden has a 50-million-dollar bounty on his head and has been in hiding since the September, 2001 attacks on the United States.







Fashion Week in New York. AP/Louis Lanzano

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