US intelligence agencies believe the latest tape released by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is authentic.
This is an undated photo of Saudi dissident Osama bin
According to an audiotape aired yesterday and attributed to bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader urged his followers to prepare for a long war against Western would-be occupiers in Sudan's Darfur region and said the West's shunning of the Hamas Palestinian government showed it was waging a "Crusader-Zionist war" on Muslims.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters: "The al-Qaeda leadership is on the run and under a lot of pressure. . . . We are continuing to take the fight to the enemy abroad and making it difficult for them to plan and plot against Americans.
"We continue to take all terrorist threats seriously and that is why we are acting on all fronts doing everything within our power to prevail in the war on terrorism," he said.
The tape was broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, which declined to say how it had been obtained.
Al-Jazeera did not say if the tape was dated, but it would have to have been recorded after March 14th because of bin Laden's reference to an Israeli raid on a West Bank prison on that date.