Bin Laden threatens to kill US captives
Source: Agencies |
March 26, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AL-QAIDA leader Osama bin Laden has threatened to kill any captured Americans if the United States executes the self-professed mastermind of the September 11 attacks or any other al-Qaida suspects.
The US is still considering whether to put Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four of his fellow plotters before a military tribunal for their role in the attacks. The Obama administration is also looking into recommendations for civilian trials, and is expected to announce a decision soon.
In a brief 74-second audio tape aired on Al-Jazeera television yesterday, bin Laden said if the US decides to execute any al-Qaida suspects in its custody - and explicitly mentioned Mohammed - his terror network would kill American captives.
He said such a decision "would mean the US has issued a death sentence against whoever of you becomes a prisoner in our hands."
It was not immediately clear whether al-Qaida currently has any US captives, but the Haqqani group - the Pakistan-based Taliban faction closest to al-Qaida - is holding an American soldier it captured in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009.
Mohammed, captured in Pakistan in 2003, is the most senior al-Qaida operative in US custody, and is currently held at Guantanamo Bay. In 2008, he was charged with murder and war crimes in connection with the September 11 attacks.
The US is still considering whether to put Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four of his fellow plotters before a military tribunal for their role in the attacks. The Obama administration is also looking into recommendations for civilian trials, and is expected to announce a decision soon.
In a brief 74-second audio tape aired on Al-Jazeera television yesterday, bin Laden said if the US decides to execute any al-Qaida suspects in its custody - and explicitly mentioned Mohammed - his terror network would kill American captives.
He said such a decision "would mean the US has issued a death sentence against whoever of you becomes a prisoner in our hands."
It was not immediately clear whether al-Qaida currently has any US captives, but the Haqqani group - the Pakistan-based Taliban faction closest to al-Qaida - is holding an American soldier it captured in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009.
Mohammed, captured in Pakistan in 2003, is the most senior al-Qaida operative in US custody, and is currently held at Guantanamo Bay. In 2008, he was charged with murder and war crimes in connection with the September 11 attacks.
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