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U.S. Justice Dept Releases "Martyrdom Messages" Tapes
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| Ashcroft
announces release of new videotape |
WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday released on national television excerpts of videotape of young men apparently delivering "martyrdom messages", calling on the U.S. public to help track down the men.
The tapes show "young men delivering what appear to be martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists," Attorney General John Ashcroft said, adding that analysis of the tapes suggested the men may be "trained and prepared to commit future suicide terrorist acts".
Five videotapes were recovered from the bombarded Afghan home of Mohammed Atta, also suspected by the United States of directing terrorist operations for al-Qaeda and indicted for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
At a news conference, FBI Director Robert Mueller said the tapes are still being analyzed to determine when they were made. He said there was no evidence any of the men had entered the United States, although at least one had tried.
Ashcroft showed 30-second videos of Hasan, Al-Rahim and Al-Juhani. The videos were shown without sound, as Ashcroft feared the possibility that the messages contained signals for others.
Ashcroft said the suspects could be anywhere in the world and appealed to the U.S. public to pitch in with the war on terrorism and help identify the men.
"We are asking for the public's assistance in further identifying and locating the individuals on the tapes so that additional investigation can be made," he said.
"Investigators are extremely interested in identifying and locating these individuals as soon as possible," Ashcroft said, adding that the men could be anywhere in the world.
So far, investigators have tentatively identified four of the five individuals depicted as Ramzi Binalshibh, Abd Al-Rahim, Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan and Khalid bin Muhammad Al-Juhani.
Binalshibh, a Yemeni, was an associate of the September 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, said Ashcroft.
In the indictment handed down in December against Zacarias Moussaoui, Binalshibh was also named along with Atta and the 18 other hijackers as an unindicted co-conspirator.
The identity of a fifth individual was unknown.
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