The United States has placed a $50 million bounty on Osama bin Laden
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to blow up a plane on December 25
Tightening up air travel security
Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden claimed the botched Christmas Day bombing of a US airliner and threatened further strikes on US targets, in an audio statement broadcast Sunday on Al-Jazeera television.
"The message that was conveyed through the (attacked) plane of the hero Umar Farouk (Abdulmutallab) is to stress earlier messages delivered to you by the heroes of the 11" September attack on the United States, he said.
"That (message) is, that America should not dream of security until we enjoy it as a reality in Palestine," he added.
Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to blow up a Northwest Airline flight over Detroit on Christmas Day but he was thwarted by fellow passengers who pounced on him.
"It is not fair that you (America) enjoy a good life while our brothers in Gaza endure the worst standard of living," bin Laden said.
"Therefore, God willing, our attacks against you will continue as long as you maintain your support to Israel," he warned.
The authenticity of the brief audio statement could not immediately be verified but Al-Jazeera said the voice was that of bin Laden.
Bin Laden, who has a 50-million-dollar bounty on his head and has been in hiding for the past eight years, last made a public statement four months ago when he was quoted on September 25 by SITE Intelligence Group monitoring service as urging European countries to pull their forces out of Afghanistan.
In a similar audio message released in March, Bin Laden accused some Arab leaders of being "complicit" with Israel and the West against Muslims and urged holy war to liberate the Palestinian territories.
Al-Qaeda's franchise in Yemen, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, had claimed responsibility for the plane attack, while Washington accused the group of training Abdulmutallab, who had spent some time in Yemen.
The US administration is putting pressure on Yemen to clamp down on Al-Qaeda militants in the impoverished country, and an international meeting to discuss combating militancy in Yemen will be held on January 27 in London.
The Yemeni government has intensified its campaign against Al-Qaeda, whom it insists it can battle on its own, without any foreign military intervention.
A US grand jury has indicted 23-year-old Abdulmutallab on six counts arising from the attempt to blow up the jet packed packed with 279 passengers and 11 crew on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Michigan district court documents accused him of "carrying a concealed bomb" of high explosives inside his clothing on Northwest Airlines Flight 253.
US intelligence chiefs last Wednesday admitted that they missed a slew of warning signs that should have prevented the attempted attack.
National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair and Michael Leiter, head of the National Counter-terrorism Center, made the joint admission during a grilling from the Senate's committee on homeland security and governmental affairs.
Conceding that the system "collectively failed," the two officials said the Abdulmutallab, "should not have stepped on that plane."
Intelligence officials, military analysts and other experts have long believed bin Laden is holed up along the remote mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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Get Osman Bin Laden stuffs.
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