Osama tape 'three months old'
2005-12-07 13:09
Dubai - Al-Jazeera television said a videotape it aired on Wednesday showing al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri claiming that his leader Osama bin Laden was still alive dates back to September.
"We got the videotape in September, and back then we aired what we thought were the important parts," Al-Jazeera editor-in-chief Ahmad Sheikh said.
"There was a misunderstanding today, and we aired these extracts today by mistake."
Sheikh was referring to a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera in September in which Zawahiri claiming that al-Qaeda was behind the deadly bombings in London in July.
The clips shown on Wednesday showed Zawahiri saying that bin Laden was still alive and leading the "jihad" or holy war against the West.
US officials believe that bin Laden, the Western world's most wanted terror mastermind, and other key al-Qaeda militants have been sheltering somewhere along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.