Bin Laden to release new message: monitor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is expected to release a new message within the next two days, the U.S.-based terrorism monitoring service SITE Institute said on Wednesday.
The message is entitled, "The Response Will Be What You See, Not What You Hear," SITE said in a release.
It said an announcement of the pending message was posted on Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, by the administrator of the al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Ekhlaas Internet forum.
The message is likely to be posted by Thursday or Friday at the latest, SITE senior analyst Adam Raisman said. He based his judgment on past practice and announcement language describing the message's posting as "urgent," "shortly" and "Allah willing."
He said the announcement did not carry the usual banner but rather was made in plain text. Based on recent practice, Raisman said he expects the upcoming message to include an audio track illustrated with an image.
The message apparently is the first by bin Laden since November 29 when he urged European countries to end military participation with U.S. forces in the Afghan conflict.
(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen; Editing by Bill Trott)
