On Thursday, 19 January 2006, an audio tape was released, presumably of
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
, warning that
al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
was planning more attacks against the United States.
The release of the tape came shortly after the United States'
Central Intelligence Agency's
Damadola airstrike
On 13 January 2006 the Central Intelligence Agency fired missiles into the Pakistani village of Damadola ( ur, ڈمہ ڈولا) in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan, Bajaur (Urdu: باجوڑ ) tribal area, about seven kilometres ( ...
in Pakistan, an attack that reportedly led to the deaths of
Midhat Mursi, a veteran bomb and chemical expert and the head of an
al-Qaeda training camp on the
Afghanistan-Pakistan border,
Khalid Habib
Khalid Habib ( ar, خالد حبيب) (died October 16, 2008), born Shawqi Marzuq Abd al-Alam Dabbas ( ar, شوقي مرزوق عبد العليم دباس), was an ascending member of al-Qaeda's central structure in Pakistan and Afghanistan. His ...
, the al-Qaeda operations chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan,
Abdul Rehman al Magrabi
Abdul (also transliterated as Abdal, Abdel, Abdil, Abdol, Abdool, or Abdoul; ar, عبد ال, ) is the most frequent transliteration of the combination of the Arabic word '' Abd'' (, meaning "Servant") and the definite prefix '' al / el'' (, mea ...
, a senior al-Qaeda operations commander, and 15 other people. Civilians were among the others killed, according to the Pakistani provincial government.
On the tape (which may have been recorded a month earlier), bin Laden boasted that "our situation is getting better, while your situation is getting worse." It also threatened future attacks on the United States, and simultaneously offered a "long
truce
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...
", while not saying what the truce would involve. The
White House immediately rejected the truce offer.
See also
*
Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden
*
Fatāwā of Osama bin Laden
A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...
*
October surprise
In U.S. political jargon, an October surprise is a news event that may influence the outcome of an upcoming November election (particularly one for the U.S. presidency), whether deliberately planned or spontaneously occurring. Because the date f ...
References
External links
Damadola airstrikeTranscript of the speechOsama "plug" boosts anti-US book Pakistan confirms militant deaths
{{Osama bin Laden
Bin Laden tape
Videos of Osama bin Laden