Bin Laden threatened Aussie in video
Bin Laden threatened Aussie in video
Agence France-Presse, Sydney
Osama bin Laden warned last year that Australia was on al-
Qaeda's terrorism hit list because of its role in helping East
Timor win independence from Indonesia.
A taped message from bin Laden last November was believed to
be a coded signal to extremists in the region to begin preparing
retaliatory attacks against Australians for the East Timor
operation.
"The crusader Australian forces were on Indonesian shores ...
and they landed on East Timor which is part of the Islamic
world," bin Laden said in the video recording, broadcast by the
British Broadcasting Corporation.
At least 190 people were killed, about half of them
Australian, in the October 12 car bombing on the Indonesian
resort island of Bali.
The video, not previously broadcast in the West, indicated
Australia should be punished for its role on the largely
Christian island, setting back plans by Muslim radicals for a
united Islamic nation.
Australian troops spearheaded the UN-backed Interfet force
that restored peace in East Timor after militia went on a
murderous rampage following a 1999 self-rule ballot in which the
East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia.
The bin Laden video was aired Saturday in a BBC documentary
tracing links between al-Qaeda and the bomb attacks in Bali.
The Panorama documentary claimed bin Laden opened a second
front in his battle against the West and the Bali bombings were
the opening salvo as al-Qaeda operatives, formerly massed in
Afghanistan, began to fan out across the world in preparation for
further attacks on Western interests.
The grainy video, which first appeared on the Islamic world's
satellite television network Al-Jazeera and rebroadcast by the
BBC, shows the face of bin Laden condemning the "crusader"
Australian forces massing on the Indonesian coast as they
supported the East Timorese bid for independence.
Another statement attributed to bin Laden, the BBC said,
called those behind a recent attack on a French oil tanker in
Yemen "heroic."
The tapes emerged as the United Nations on Saturday declared
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), the main suspect in the Bali bombing, as a
terrorist organisation following a joint request by Australia and
Indonesia.
"Every UN member nation in the world is now expected to take
action against Jemaah Islamiah," a spokesman for Australian
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said.
"Australia is very pleased the listing has been formalised and
is pleased with the degree of international support it got,"
Downer's spokesman said.
As a result of the listing, UN member nations are required to
act against Jemaah Islamiyah members and entities by freezing
their assets, preventing their movement and blocking any attempts
to sell or transfer arms.
The declaration sets off domestic legislation in Australia
making membership of Jamaah Islamiyah illegal.
Ahead of the declaration, Australian authorities said they
would move quickly to capture any Jemaah Islamiyah agents in the
country.
Australia's top counter-intelligence agency, ASIO, revealed
this week that members of the group had been in Australia.
Foreign affairs officials on Saturday meanwhile said the
remains of 14 Australians would be flown back to their homeland
from Bali after being formally identified.
The officials said they were working with Indonesian
authorities to identify the remaining Australians as quickly as
possible, although Downer said the task was proving difficult.
Authorities also revealed that an Indonesian woman died
overnight in an Australian hospital from injuries sustained in
the Bali blast.
The woman was believed to be a key witness to the attack as
she had told investigators she saw a man with a suspicious object
inside one of the bombed nightclubs.