THE MIDDLE EAST: Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden was shown in an undated videotape excerpt aired yesterday, sitting silently alongside a top aide who praised the September 11th attacks as a "great victory".
Qatar-based satellite television network Al-Jazeera broadcast the footage, which also included what it said was the videotaped will of one of the suspected September 11th hijackers.
A station official said the tape was "old" but had apparently not been broadcast before.
In the broadcast, bin Laden is seen sitting silently on a patch of grass next to his aide Ayman al-Zawahri who said: "Those 19 brothers who went out and sacrificed their lives for God were rewarded with this victory."
The videotape also included footage of Ahmed Alghamdi, a Saudi believed to be one of the 19 hijackers involved in the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
"It is high time that we killed Americans in their home," said Alghamdi, bearded and wearing a chequered Arab headdress. "Lord I regard myself as a martyr for you, so accept me as such."
An official at Al-Jazeera said the full tape would be aired on Thursday. The station said in a statement that Alghamdi's videotaped message was recorded in the Afghan city of Kandahar six months before the September 11th attacks, according to information on the film.
US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumseld said the video appeared to be a "patchwork of clips" from last year and not new material. "The impression is it is not new," Mr Rumsfeld said. "The tape is new but it does not reflect anything of OBL (Osama bin Laden) from recent periods."
He said, however, he was not certain that the videotape that he saw was the same one obtained by the Arabic television news network Al-Jazeera. He said the tape that he saw included shots of bin Laden talking and included Arabic commentary that appeared to be more recent.
Meanwhile, four US soldiers were killed and at least one was injured in Afghanistan yesterday when a rocket detonated as they were attempting to dispose of it, the US military said.
Pentagon officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the death toll may rise because some soldiers still had not been accounted for. "Four US soldiers were killed and one wounded at approximately 3 a.m. near Kandahar from an accidental explosion during an ordnance disposal operation involving 107 mm rockets," the US Central Command said in a statement.
• Amnesty International has attacked the United States for its treatment of prisoners held in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay near Cuba, saying it was failing to uphold their basic human rights.
"The U.S. government has refused to grant any of the detainees in Afghanistan or Guantanamo Bay prisoner of war status, or to bring any disputed cases before a competent tribunal as requested under the Geneva Conventions," Amnesty said in a statement.