BIN LADEN'S SONS WILL KILL HIM ON TV
Sons 'will shoot him to foil allies'
From Jeremy Armstrong In Kabul
OSAMA bin Laden plans a TV suicide that will trigger attacks on landmarks in London, Paris and the US.
His estranged wife Sabiha said last night he would order his elder sons to shoot him rather than be captured.
Bin Laden: Appearance on Al-Jazera TV
Sabiha, 45, added: "That will be the signal for a new wave of terror. The targets this time would be the Capitol building in Washington, Big Ben in London and the Eiffel Tower in Paris."
Her claims were broadcast on Russian television as al-Qaeda boss bin Laden reportedly led 1,000 loyalists into forests in Afghanistan after being flushed out of his Tora Bora caves.
New evidence has also emerged of his role in the September 11 atrocities in America.
In a 40-minute video tape obtained by the Pentagon, he described the damage around the twin towers as "greater than expected" and praised Allah for the success of the attacks.
Bin Laden, 44, whose Saudi family run a multi-billion dollar construction business, is said to have 15 children by three or four wives.
Estranged wife Sabiha, who abandoned him after he took another wife aged 17, revealed the "suicide" plan on Russian TV channel, TV6.
Sabiha said he wanted his death and ultimate martyrdom filmed by the al-Jazeera TV network, based in Gulf state Qatar.
It has broadcast several of bin Laden's rants against the West since September 11.
Yesterday bin Laden's mother Alia spoke for the first time about him, saying she was not angry with him - just disappointed by his ideas and actions.
"Like all mothers, I am satisfied and pleased with my son and pray to God to guide him and save him," she told a Saudi newspaper. The family disowned him in 1994.
The fresh tape evidence of bin Laden's involvement in the twin towers horror is said to have been found in a private home in Jalalabad.
US Vice President Dick Cheney said: "He does, in fact, display significant knowledge of what happened and there's no doubt about his responsibility."
On the tape, bin Laden said he was at a dinner when he was told the first plane had crashed into the Trade Center.
He shared the information with other guests and some expressed surprise. He told them to stick around and then the second plane hit and they cheered.
The tape also shows that bin Laden was amused some of the hijackers were unaware it was a suicide mission.
A US official said: "He is amused by the fact that some of these people who were martyred, they thought they were just taking part in a hijacking.''
A second, hour-long tape, obtained by the Mirror in Kabul, shows bin Laden's hatred of America. It opens with newsreel footage of Bill Clinton and George Bush on "Muslim soil".
Jabbing his finger, bin Laden urges his al-Qaeda fighters: "Our priority... is to rise up against America."
mirror.icnetwork.co.uk |
