'Smoking gun' evidence against bin Laden to be released

The US was preparing last night to release the "smoking gun" evidence which administration officials hope will finally put to rest doubts about the culpability of Osama bin Laden for the attacks on September 11th.

Determined to pre-empt attempts to discredit the 40-minute video tape, the Defence Department was yesterday working with four separate "independent" translators to agree on accurate captioning for the tape which was found in a private home in Jalalabad.

It is said to show bin Laden expressing delight and praising Allah at the success of the September 11th bombing and surprise at how much of the World Trade Centre collapsed. He is also reported as indicating that some of the hijackers were unaware they were on a suicide mission. Administration officials say it provides conclusive evidence of the prior knowledge and involvement of the al-Qaeda leader in the attacks.

"The tape is a self-indictment," Democratic Senator Bob Graham of Florida, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said. He told CNN that bin Laden bragged that he used a short-wave radio to get news that the attacks, which killed nearly 3,300 people in Washington, New York City and Pennsylvania, were successful.

"In terms of Osama bin Laden's body language, you know, he appears - if you can believe it - happy, comfortable and joyous with the fact that he was able to take lives," White House spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer, said.

Explaining the delay in the release of the tape, the Defence Department spokeswoman, Ms Victoria Clarke, told reporters: "We want to make sure we do this in the right way. Among other things, we're working on a transcript. It is not a great quality tape, and so sections of it are unintelligible even if you're a good Arabic speaker."

Meanwhile, a US B-1B bomber on a mission to bomb Afghanistan went down last night some 30 miles north of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. As the US Navy destroyer, the Russell, converged on the crash site, one of its search and rescue helicopters managed to pick up all four of the crew, according to the Pentagon.

A refuelling plane is reported to have spotted emergency strobe lights in the water shortly after the crash.

Initially there was no explanation available for the crash.

The $200 million aircraft, one of the USAF's 93, had been conducting bombing raids from the RAF base on the island, a flight of some eight hours each way. The base, 4,000 miles from Afghanistan, has been used extensively during the current campaign.

Developed during the Cold War, the planes have been extensively modernised and the model is now one of the workhorses of the Air Force, capable of carrying a payload of up to 24 2,000lb bombs and able to deliver them at up to 24 different targets. It has dropped the largest tonnage of any aircraft used in Afghanistan.

Pentagon sources have been expressing some scepticism about claims by the captive young American Taliban, Mr John Walker (20), that another attack on America can be expected by the end of Ramadan, this Sunday. Mr Walker told his US debriefers, according to the Washington Times, that the third phase of al-Qaeda's war would lead to destruction of the entire US.

While the authorities here remain on a high state of alert, the President's spokesman, Mr Fleischer, said they are not convinced Mr Walker would know about the plans of the al-Qaeda leadership.

Mr Walker's parents have released a letter from him, faxed to them by the Red Cross: "Dear Papa and Mama, I apologise for not contacting you in such a long time. I realise this must have caused you a lot of grief. I am currently alive and well in Afghanistan and I am in safe hands. I cannot give you many details about my situation but it would be good to hear from you all."