A man claiming to be a spokesman for the al Qaeda network told an Arab television station today that Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar were alive and well but gave no clue as to their whereabouts.
The man, identified by the alias Abu Laith al-Libi, told the Middle East Broadcasting Centre by telephone that bin Laden and his top lieutenants were in good health.
"Bin Laden, may God keep him safe, Dr Ayman Zawahri and Sheikh Sulaiman bu Ghaith, all of them are in good health," said the man, whose alias indicates he is of a Libyan origin.
"And we, the fighters of the holy war, in general are hoping to enter the next phase," he said. "We are attempting to expand the frontlines...it will be a war of killings, a war (against) businesses, which will hit the enemy where he does not expect."
Libi said Mullah Omar, who as leader of Afghanistan's now-ousted Taliban rulers provided shelter to bin Laden and al Qaeda, was "reorganising his soldiers".
In Washington, a US official described Libi as an al Qaeda "field commander" who led a unit that fought in eastern Afghanistan, but not very high-ranking in the network.
He said the recent messages and interviews that have surfaced from bu Ghaith and Libi appeared to be attempts to boost morale in the absence of any public messages from leaders such as bin Laden and Zawahri.
"Some lower tier folks seem compelled to get a message out to the al Qaeda rank-and-file and buck up morale," the official said on condition of anonymity. "These guys like this Abu Laith are trying to fill a vacuum because they're not hearing from the senior leadership."
US officials believe bin Laden and Zawahiri may be still alive.
On Tuesday, Algerian Arabic-language newspaper El Youm quoted al Qaeda spokesman bu Ghaith as saying the group would soon strike US targets in America and around the world.
"Our military and intelligence networks are assessing and monitoring new US targets that we will strike in a period of time which is not long," bu Ghaith said.
He said Washington's war on terrorism since September 11 had not affected al Qaeda's military, intelligence, economic and information infrastructures and that bin Laden was going about his work.
A spokesman for international forces hunting al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan has dismissed as "wishful thinking" such claims that the network is still virtually intact.