The audio tape broadcast by a Qatar television network in which Osama bin Laden vows to pursue his war on the West "is probably" authentic, a US official said today.
"It likely that it is bin Laden, but it cannot be stated with absolute certainty until technical analysis is completed," said the official.
In an audiotape attributed to him and broadcast by Al-Jazeera television last night, the supposed bin Laden said US President George W. Bush was the "pharaoh of the century" and his key allies as "murderers."
The expressions used, as well as the locution and tone of voice, have left little doubt as to the identity of the speaker, according to preliminary analyses by US and Japanese voice experts.
"As you assassinate, so will you be (assassinated), and as you bomb so will you likewise be," the tape said, against the background of a photograph of the al-Qaeda terror network's leader, in turban and a camouflage jacket, a rifle at his side.
"What has happened since the conquests of New York and Washington up until now -- like the operations on Germans in Tunisia, the explosion of the French tanker in Yemen, on the French in Karachi, the operations against the Marines in Failaka, on Australians and Britons in the explosions in Bali, as well as the recent hostage-taking in Moscow and other operations here and there - were nothing but the response of Muslims eager to defend their religion and respond to the order of God and their Prophet."
The voice warned the "peoples of countries allied to the United States," against the "alliance between their governments and the United States to attack us in Afghanistan."
He cited "Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Australia."
Al-Jazeera did not provide any details on how it obtained the tape but said it showed bin Laden was still alive at least until the Moscow hostage-taking in late October or the October 28th killing of a US diplomat in Amman.
AFP