Suspected terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden was heard claiming responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the United States in a video aired by Qatar’s Al-Jazeera satellite television today. Al-Jazeera broadcast footage of militants described as Al-Qaeda members pouring over aerial maps of the pentagon, one of the targets of the 9/11 hijackers who also crashed planes into New York’s World Trade Center. Osama was heard naming some of the attackers, including Mohammad Atta who he said ‘‘led the group which destroyed the first tower’’ of the World Trade Center last September 11. ‘‘Jazeera has recently obtained what seems to be a tape prepared by al Qaeda on the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks showing some of the perpetrators of the.attacks carrying out technical training on controlling aircraft,’’ the Qatar-based channel said in a news bulletin. Jazeera showed footage of a map with a hand pointing at the Pentagon and people studying flight manuals without showing their faces. The tape also carried what Jazeera said was the will of one hijacker, Abdul Aziz al-Omari, saying: ‘‘This is a message to America to make it leave.and stop supporting Israel.’’ The alleged hijacker also praised Osama while thanking people who supported and trained him. The channel said the tape had been recorded in Kandahar but it did not say when or how it was obtained.
