from AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A new video purportedly featuring Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden appeared on the Internet Tuesday, the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States, CNN reported.

The video shows a still image of Bin Laden with a voice identified as his praising September 11 hijacker Walid al-Shehri, who was aboard American Airlines Flight 11 which crashed into the World Trade Center, it said.

The authenticity of the video was not immediately confirmed, the television network said, adding that the video did not appear to show any moving images of Bin Laden.

Bin Laden appeared on a video on Friday, his first since October 2004, when he threatened new attacks against the United States in a video just days before the US presidential election.

Al-Qaeda’s media arm, As-Sahab, had said Monday that it would release a second video of the group’s leader.

CNN said the video released Tuesday appeared to be purely a eulogy of Shehri, who like Bin Laden hails from Saudi Arabia. There is also no indication of when it was recorded, the US news network said.

But questions over the elusive Saudi extremist’s beard cropped up at a Congressional hearing Monday featuring top US security experts, including Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell.

“First, is this his beard?” Republican Senator Norm Coleman asked the spy chief. “Do we expect that — is it a signal?”

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