New al-Qaida Attacks Threatened

Tape allegedly from terror network aired on Al Arabiya TV

Sept 7, 2003

DUBAI, — A purported audio tape by a member of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network on Sunday promised more attacks against Americans everywhere and denied any links to the killing of a Shiite Muslim cleric in Iraq.

“WE ANNOUNCE there will be new attacks inside and outside which would make America forget September 11,” an al-Qaida spokesman said in the tape broadcast by the Arabic television channel Al Arabiya. It identified him as Abdel-Rahman al-Najdi.

He said U.S. losses in Afghanistan were much higher than announced by Washington.

The tape, dated September 3, came a few days before the second anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities — blamed by Washington on al-Qaida.

Some U.S. and Iraqi reports suggested that al-Qaida was behind a car bomb attack that killed top Shiite cleric Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim and 83 others in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf last month.

“Those who killed Baqer al-Hakim are the Americans and Jews because they know that his loyalty is to Iran,” he added.

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