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US demands Taliban turn over bin Laden

WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (AFP) - The United States Thursday stuck to its demands that Afghanistan's Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden, bluntly rejecting an edict by Islamic clerics in Kabul urging the ruling militia invite him to leave.

Amid clear signs that US retaliation for last week's terror attacks was drawing near, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer warned the Taliban: "It's the time for action, not words" and said the edict "doesn't meet America's requirements."

US President George W. Bush and other top officials have fingered the Saudi-born militant as the prime suspect in September 11 strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that left an estimated 5,900 people feared dead.

Senior religious leaders from across Afghanistan earlier urged the Taliban to ask bin Laden to leave the country voluntarily and unanimously resolved to declare jihad, or holy war, in the event of US military strikes.

An edict issued by the clerics, or ulema, expressed "anguish and sorrow" over last week's attacks, but that declaration apparently did nothing to mollify Washington, where Bush declared bin Laden "wanted: dead or alive."

"The president has demanded that key figures of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization including Osama bin Laden, be turned over to responsible authorities and that the Taliban close terrorists camps in Afghanistan, and the United States stands behind those demands," said Fleischer.

"This is about much more than any one man being allowed to leave voluntarily, presumably from one safe harbor to another safe harbor," said the spokesman, who declared that Afghanistan's rulers had only themselves to blame for any US military response.

"Anybody who harbors them will find themselves in harm's way," he said, echoing the US administration's position that it will not discriminate between terrorists and the nations that harbor them in its response to last week's attacks.

Bush has ordered US military deployments as Washington steps up preparations for retaliation as well as a coming global campaign against terrorism -- dubbed "Operation Infinite Justice."

Asked whether Bush was prepared for the potentially high cost in civilian lives of any strike on bin Laden in Afghanistan, Fleischer replied: "There has already been a tremendous cost of innocent lives that's been paid with American blood and foreign blood from the many nations who lost their lives at the World Trade Center.

"The president has been very clear about the course that he intends to take," the spokesman said as both sides escalated a war of words over the fate of bin Laden, whom the Taliban have sheltered as a "guest" since 1996.

"This Shura of Islamic scholars demands from the Islamic Emirate (Afghanistan's Taliban regime) that Osama bin Laden should voluntarily leave Afghanistan for a place of his choice at an appropriate time," the edict said.

It went on to warn: "If America does not show restraint even after the above decisions, a jihad (holy war) will become incumbent in accordance with the principles of Shariat (Islamic law) and the entire Muslim community should support this."

Taliban Education Minister Amir Khan Mutaqi said the militia's supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar would act on the ruling but said it could take some time for bin Laden to get out of Afghanistan.

How much time the country has was not clear but US Army units were ordered deployed overseas and hundreds of US fighter planes were Thursday moving into positions from which they could carry out a massive attack on what is one of the least developed nations in the world.

A man on an FBI watch list, suspected of having aided the hijackers who carried out attacks in New York and Washington, was arrested near Boston Thursday.

Federal investigators continued sifting through more than 96,000 leads and searching for nearly 200 people wanted for questioning about the September 11 attacks.

Osama bin Laden, the Saudi extremist in hiding in Afghanistan, is still the prime suspect although Afghan Islamic clerics have asked him to leave.

Here is a list of developments in the worldwide manhunt:

INTERNATIONAL: -Securities watchdogs in the US, Europe and Asia continue to investigate suspicious transactions on the world markets that may indicate that some investors had foreknowledge of the attacks. The US has created a task force to create financial profiles and track the "paper trail" of those suspected of speculating in the markets. Panama, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Cayman Islands, and Cyprus are particularly looking into links between their banking and investment centers and Osama bin Laden.

UNITED STATES: -A person on an FBI watch list, suspected of having aided the hijackers who carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks, Nabil Marabh, 34, was arrested late Wednesday near Boston. Agents uncovered diagrams of Detroit's international airport and information about a US military base in Turkey when they searched his house. He was said to be one of more than 100 people wanted for questioning in connection with the attacks.

-Three men were arrested in Detroit, Michigan and charged for possession of false documents -- the first charges potentially related to last week's terrorist attacks. FBI agents arrested Ahmed Hannan, 33, Karim Koubriti, 23, and Farouk Ali-Halmoud, 21.

-Seventy-five people are in custody for immigration violations in the United States. The FBI has charged five men, some of whom were arrested prior to the attacks, as material witnesses, accused of having known or provided assistance to the perpetrators, or were aware of the preparations. They are: Habib Zacarias Moussaoui, Ayub Ali Khan, Mohammed Jawid Azmath, Al-Bader al-Hazmi, and a fifth man whose name has not yet been revealed.

-At least 33 licensed pilots -- most of them foreign-born and one of them living in the same apartment building as two of the identified hijackers -- are among the people wanted for questioning by the FBI.

-US officials are investigating whether some or all of the 19 hijackers on the four hijacked aircraft used in last week's terror attacks used stolen identities, after at least four men with names matching those on an FBI list of the hijackers turned up alive in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, according to newspaper reports.

-The US government is seeking evidence linking Osama bin Laden with the gum arabic industry in Sudan. Gum arabic is imported into the United States under special licences and is a key ingredient in many soft drinks, food products, inks and glues.

ALGERIA: -Algeria is planning to ask Morocco to extradite Kamar Eddine Kherbane, a founding member of Algeria's outlawed Islamic Salvation Front and an active member of bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization, who was arrested in Casablanca. Moroccan police said he was being questioned in connection with arms smuggling activities, but the Algerian daily El Khabar reported that he was arrested as a result of US pressure.

BELGIUM: -Jottings about chemicals were discovered in the home of Nizar Trabelsi, one of two men arrested in Brussels. He has been formally charged with attempting to use explosives, association with criminals, possession of arms of war, and holding false documents.

GERMANY: -Berlin police have begun investigating foreign students in Berlin, after investigations with the FBI revealed that some of the suspects in the September 11 attacks had been living as students in the north German city of Hamburg.

LEBANON: At Interpol's request Lebanese police have opened an investigation into Ziad Samir Jarrah, a suspect in the terror attacks on the United States. The international criminal police organisation asked Lebanese court officials for information on 26-year-old Jarrah, who was implicated in the attacks in the United States. The FBI believes Jarrah helped hijack and pilot United Airlines Flight 93, the Boeing 757 that left Newark, New Jersey for San Francisco and crashed in west Pennsylvania.

LIECHTENSTEIN: The tiny principality of Liechtenstein has opened an inquiry into whether terrorists who attacked New York and Washington used its financial institutions. The government said a specialised unit in the fight against economic crime and money laundering was in charge of the probe and would give, if necessary, its support to US authorities.

YEMEN: Dozens of suspected Yemeni followers of Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the attacks in the United States, have been arrested in Yemen.

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