TIMES ONLINE: A new audio tape said to be from Osama Bin Laden that claims responsibility for the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt in Detroit has warned of further attacks against America.
The short recording purporting to be from the al-Qaeda leader, which was aired on Al Jazeera television, said: “The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes of the September 11.”
On Christmas Day, Mr Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian national, allegedly attempted to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight he was sitting on as it approached Detroit Metro Airport. But the bomb he was said to have been hiding in his underwear failed to explode.
He told police shortly afterwards that he had been trained and instructed in the plot by al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen.
More than 60 messages have been broadcast by bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda’s number two, and their allies since the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The tape was aired after MI5 raised the terrorist threat level in Britain from "substantial" to "severe" — meaning that counter-terrorism agencies believe that an attack is "highly likely".
It is believed that intelligence whispers from America that an al-Qaeda affiliated group is close to finalising another atrocity coupled with a conference on Yemen and Afghanistan in London this week led to the decision. >>> Adam Fresco | Sunday, January 24, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has released a new voice recording claiming responsibility for the Christmas Day attempt by underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner.
The latest recording emerges after British spy chiefs raised the UK threat state to "severe" amid fears that al-Qaeda was planning a fresh wave of attacks on western targets, including and a plot to hijack an Indian passenger jet and crash it into a British city and attacks using female suicide bombers.
In the audio recording, released by Qatar-based Al Jazeera television, a voice purported to be bin Laden, says: "The message sent to you with the attempt by the hero Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is a confirmation of our previous message conveyed by the heroes of September 11.
"If it was possible to carry our messages to you by words we wouldn't have carried them to you by planes," bin Laden added in a message he said was directed "from Osama to Obama".
David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, said the fact that bin Laden had apparently claimed responsibility for the Yemen-back Detroit plot demonstrates "the links that can exist between different terrorist groups". >>> Phil Sherwell, in New York and Sean Rayment, Security Correspondent | Sunday, January 24, 2010
WELT ONLINE: Al-Qaida-Chef Osama bin Laden übernimmt die Verantwortung für den vereitelten Anschlag auf ein US-Passagierflugzeug an Weihnachten. Das geht aus einer Tonbandaufnahme hervor, deren Stimme dem Chef des Terrornetzwerkes zugeordnet wird. In der Botschaft kündigt bin Laden neue Anschläge auf die USA an.
„Wenn es möglich wäre, unsere Botschaft an Euch in Worten zu überbringen, hätten wir sie nicht mit Flugzeugen überbracht.“ Derart lakonisch rechtfertigt Al-Qaida-Chef Osma Bin Laden in einer neuen Audiobotschaft sowohl erneut die Angriffe vom 11. September 2001 als auch den versuchten Sprengstoffanschlag auf eine US-Linienmaschine auf dem Flug nach Detroit am 25. Dezember.
Die Aufnahme sendete wie schon diverse andere Verlautbarungen des Terror-Paten der in Qatar ansässige arabische Nachrichtensender al-Dschasira. Das Zeichen, das der "nigerianische Held“ Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab übermittelt habe, bekräftige die Mission „der Attentäter vom 11. September“ und nachfolgender Terroristen, sagte der Anführer des Terrornetzwerks in der gut eine Minute dauernden Tonbandaufnahme an die Adresse der USA. Es war die erste Video-Nachricht Bin Ladens seit dem 29. September. >>> Von Dietrich Alexander | Sonntag, 24. Januar 2010
Welt Online Audio anhören: Osama bin Laden bekennt sich zu Anschlag >>>
LE FIGARO: «Nos attaques contre vous continueront tant que votre soutien aux Israéliens se poursuivra et que la sécurité ne sera pas établie en Palestine», promet le chef d'al-Qaida, qui revendique l'attentat manqué contre le vol Amsterdam-Détroit.
Oussama Ben Laden se rappelle au souvenir des autorités américaines. Dans un message audio, diffusé dimanche matin par la chaîne al-Jazira (écoutez la bande), le chef d'al-Qaida a revendiqué l'attentat manqué contre le vol Amsterdam-Détroit. Cette déclaration confirme le rôle joué par son organisation dans cette tentative. Fin décembre, la branche du groupe terroriste dans la péninsule arabique avait déjà clamé la responsabilité de l'attaque.
«De la part d'Oussama à Obama: le message délivré par le héros Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab confirme les messages précédents délivrés par les héros du 11 septembre et ceux qui les ont suivis», lance Oussama Ben Laden. Et l'islamiste promet de ne pas s'arrêter là. «Nos attaques contre vous se poursuivront tant que votre soutien aux Israéliens se poursuivra», met-il en garde. «Les Etats-Unis ne connaîtront pas la sécurité avant qu'elle ne soit établie en Palestine». «Il est injuste que vous ayez une vie tranquille alors que nos frères à Gaza vivent dans les pires conditions». Ben Laden veut montrer qu'il tient toujours les rênes >>> C.J. (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP et AP | Dimanche 24 Janvier 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain will remain a target for home-grown suicide bombers for years to come because Muslims have not fully integrated into society, a senior Government adviser has warned.
Iqbal Wahhab, a prominent Muslim businessman, claimed that divisions between Islamic communities and the wider population will remain for another 100 years.
He blamed Labour for failing to tackle the problems of unemployment and deprivation among the communities, which he argues are key factors in leading young Muslims to turn to extremism.
Mr Wahhab, who chairs a Whitehall panel which advises ministers on race issues, expressed deep concern that Britain will suffer more attacks in the future as the terrorists become more sophisticated and more Muslims become radicalised.
His comments follow a recent report that said the UK is now believed to have the greatest number of Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda of any Western nation.
It has been claimed that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to detonate a bomb on an airliner over Detroit last month, was radicalised as a student in London.
Appointed last week to head the advisory board of Quilliam, a leading counter-extremist think tank, Mr Wahhab said that the Government had failed to make young Muslims included in mainstream society and so left them exposed to being groomed by radical Islamic groups.
"It will take around 100 years for the employment gap between ethnic minorities and white people in this country to be eradicated," he said.
"The Government has had a chance to fix it and hasn't. Terror threat will get worse, warns Government adviser >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, January 23, 2010
