The head of the US Senate intelligence committee says Washington believes Osama bin Laden is hiding out in western Pakistan. His comments come just hours after an al-Qaeda spokesman said bin Laden is alive and warned the US to "fasten its seat belt" for more attacks.
"Our best intelligence estimate continues to be that he is alive and probably some place in those tribal areas on the western side of Pakistan," Senator Bob Graham told Fox television.
Earlier, Suleiman Abu Ghaith - a spokesman for bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television that bin Laden and his network were alive and well and that "America must prepare itself". "We will arrive from where they [Americans] are not expecting."
Though the White House kept silent on the matter, several congressmen expressed their concern on local talk shows.
Reacting to the news, Sen Graham, a Florida Democrat, said: "What we have seen is a disturbing pattern of the reformulation of al-Qaeda and their renewed willingness and capability to conduct terrorist attacks.
"The attack against a Jewish synagogue in Tunisia has now been linked to al-Qaeda. The fact that there was a propane truck used in the destruction of the synagogue in Tunisia sent a signal that this was a new form of terrorist attack which al-Qaeda had perfected."
The attack killed 19 people, including 14 German tourists.
AFP