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Osama admits role in September 11 attacks: Report

For the first time, terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has admitted that his Al Qaeda group carried out the attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on September 11 according to a video.

In the video Osama also reportedly threatened the lives of US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"The twin towers were legitimate targets, they were supporting US economic power, and the pilots who hijacked the planes were blessed by Allah," bin Laden reportedly said in a previously undisclosed video, which The Sunday Telegraph newspaper said it obtained in the middle east on Saturday.

In the footage, shot in the Afghan mountains at the end of October, a smiling bin Laden goes on to say that the killing of at least 4,537 people was justified because they were 'not civilians', but were working for the American system.

Bin Laden also makes a direct personal threat against Bush and Blair for the first time and warns nations such as Australia, Germany and Japan to stay out of the conflict.

The video that has been circulating for 14 days among his supporters in the network would form the centre-piece of America and Britain's new evidence against bin Laden, to be released on Wednesday.

Describing the twin towers as legitimate targets, bin laden reportedly said in the video: "These events (September 11) were great by all measurement. What was destroyed were not only the towers, but the towers of morale in that country."

Freely admitting to being behind the attacks, bin Laden said: "If avenging the killing of our people is terrorism, then history should be a witness that we are terrorists. Yes, we kill their innocents and this is legal religiously and logically."

He said: "The towers were supposed to be filled with supporters of the economical powers of the United States who are abusing the world. Those who talk about civilians should change their stand and reconsider their position. We are treating them like they treated us."

Bin Laden in the video reportedly justified his entire terror campaign.

"There are two types of terror, good and bad. What we are practising is good terror. We will not stop killing them and whoever supports them."

America's War on Terror: The Complete Coverage
The Attack on US Cities: The Complete Coverage

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For further coverage, please visit www.saja.org/roundupsept11.html

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