Another tape reopens debate on Laden`s fate

in Britain has sparked new claims that the suspected mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks is still alive, the Sunday Times reported.
It said the video was obtained by a British-based Islamic news agency, which claims that Pakistani intelligence officials who supplied the film said that part of the footage was filmed just eight weeks ago.

If that is true, the film would be the first hard evidence that the chief suspect for the attacks on New York and Washington survived the US-led military assaults on the Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, the paper said.

The 40-minute film came to Britain on an encrypted CD-ROM and was decoded by the agency based in Birmingham, central England, last week, the British weekly said.

It said that the part of the video that is claimed to have been filmed in March shows Bin Laden sitting outside under a tree on what appears to be a pleasant spring evening. According to the paper, Bin Laden appears thinner than in previous footage and his delivery lacks some of the zest of previous clips.

It quoted Bin Laden was saying: "The war is between us and the Jews. Any country that steps into the same trench as the Jews has only herself to blame."

He adds that if he "specifically targeted Britain and America — this war is not confined to them — it served as an opportunity for other nations to revise their stance."

The report follows warnings from US officials that militants from the al-Qaeda network may be preparing another massive strike against the United States. Bureau Report