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9/11 attackers shown training
07/09/2006 21:53 - (SA)
Dubai - The Arab television channel Al-Jazeera broadcast video footage on Thursday that it said showed Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda suicide candidates preparing the September 11 2001 attacks against the United States.
Al-Jazeera earlier had said it would broadcast "video that included scenes showing for the first time al-Qaeda leaders preparing the September 11 attacks and practising for their execution".
The video showed bin Laden and two of the 19 Islamist militants who took part in the attacks - Saudi nationals Hamza el-Ramdi and Wael el-Shemari.
The two bearded men spoke of the situation faced by Muslims in Bosnia and Chechnya.
Fifteen of the 19 attackers on September 11 were Saudis, and Al-Jazeera said it had aired only a few minutes from a document which it said lasted about 1½ hours.
Several dozen men
Bin Laden was shown with several dozen men, walking in a deserted, rocky zone that was not identified.
Almost 3 000 people died on September 11 2001 when suicide hijackers took control of four US passenger planes.
They smashed two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, causing them to collapse.
Another plane slammed into the Pentagon, the US military heaquarters building near Washington, and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
The attackers were trained in martial arts and were armed for the most part with simple box cutters.
The footage aired by Al-Jazeera on Thursday showed hand-to-hand combat practice between people who wore masks, and one of whom appeared to be training with a knife.
'Kill at least one American'
The television station also broadcast a recording attributed to the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, in which he said he was sure of victory against US-led forces in the country.
The recording was posted on an Islamist internet site as well, but its authenticity could not be established.
In the internet statement, Muhajer urged Sunni Muslims to kill at least one US citizen within the next two weeks.
Muhajer said: "Oh followers of (Taliban leader) Mullah Mohammed Omar, oh sons of Osama bin Laden, oh disciples of (slain Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader) Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi ... I urge each of you to kill at least one American within a period not exceeding 15 days."
The two broadcasts came four days before the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
'The war has just begun'
Muhajer already had issued a public statement in June, a few days after his predecessor Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike in Iraq.
In the recording released on Thursday, he said: "I do not doubt for an instant victory" against US-led forces in Iraq, calling President George W Bush a "liar" and a "dog".
"Do not be proud of the number and the equipment" (of your army), Muhajer said.
"The war has just begun."
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