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US intelligence analysts have concluded that an audiotape of Osama bin Laden which was broadcast last week is real and was recently recorded, officials said on Monday.
It is the first evidence in almost a year that showed bin Laden,leader of the Al-Qaeda network, is still alive.
Analysis of the tape suggested that it is bin Laden himself whoread a statement threatening to launch new terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies, a US official said on condition of anonymity.
The official said the audiotape, broadcast on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television channel, does not appear to have been altered or edited.
In the tape, the chief of Al-Qaeda terrorist network hailed theterror attacks in Kuwait, Yemen, Bali and Moscow as "a response towhat happened to Muslim brothers all around the world."
The tape also threatened retaliation against the US-led anti-terror coalition: "Just like you kill us, we will kill you."
(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2002)
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