Bin Laden 'in good health' say reports

Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenants are in good health and plotting more attacks against the United States, according to a new tape believed to be from a leading al Qaida official.

Pentagon officials are examining the two-and-a-half minute recording apparently made by the terror network operative Abu Laith Allibi and posted on an Islamic website.

Deposed Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and al Qaida spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith are also alive and well, he claims.

"I want also to reassure the mojahedin about the fact that Mullah Omar has been able to assemble the mojahedin who have been scattered and who are in the process of regrouping," he said in the recording, which was aired by the Middle East Broadcasting Centre.

The war with the US had now entered "a new phase", with guerrilla fighting, assassinations and attacks on "the enemy's weak infrastructure," Abu Laith Allibi added.

The satellite television network said the recording was made several weeks ago.

Libyan born Abu Laith Allibi was known as a leading al Qaida figure before September 11, but has not been heard of since the terror attacks.

The tape is the latest in a series of contacts between al Qaida and the outside world after weeks of silence.

An audio recording by Abu Ghaith revealed yesterday renewed the network's threat to attack American targets and urged Muslims the world over to "kill enemies of God everywhere."

"We are coming back, God willing, from where you cannot expect us," the Kuwaiti said in the tape aired by Islamic website www.jehad.net.