24-01-10 Bin Laden claims U.S. plane attempt,vows more attacks

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the failed December 25 bombing of a U.S.-bound plane in an audio tape aired on Sunday,and vowed to continue attacks on the United.In his message addressed "from Osama to (U.S. President Barack) Obama," bin Laden said the attempt to blow up the jet as it neared Detroit was a continuation of al Qaeda policy since the September 11,2001 attacks on the United States.White House adviser David Axelrod said he could not confirm the authenticity of the tape,which was broadcast by Al Jazeera television before international meetings this week on how to deal with militancy in Afghanistan and Yemen.But Abdelbari Atwan,editor of Al-Quds-Al-Arabi newspaper who met the al Qaeda leader in 1996,said:"It is bin Laden's voice and style.The poetry,the references he makes are identifiably his."Bin Laden praised the Nigerian who has been charged with trying to blow up Northwest Flight 253.