[Awalkata: Awas ini mungkin satu tipumuslihat Amerika untuk memasang perangkap minda kepada askar Taliban...kita terjemahkan sebagai bahan ilmiah sahaja - penterjemah]

AFP, Riyadh
November 21, 2001.

Bunuhlah Saya Sebelum Amerika Menangkap Saya

(Kill me before Americans get me: Osama)

Osama bin Laden yangkin diburu oleh pasukan khas kerana mejadi perancang utama serangan ngeri September 11, telah memberi arahan kepada pembantu beliau untuk membunuhnya sebelum dia ditangkap oleh askar Amerika, demikian laporan sebuah akhbar hari ini (Rabu).

Pejuang kelahiran Arab Saudi itu telah membuat wasiat melalui rakaman video menggesa lebih banyak serangan terhadap Amerika dan segala kepentingannya, demikian dilaporkan oleh Al-Wataan.

"Osama Laden telah memberitahu beberapa orang yang rapat dengannya betapa dia sedang mengakhiri penhujung hidupnya," kata akhbar harian itu sambil memetik laporan "sumber diplomatik AS dan Eropah" di Paris.

"Dia tidak merelakan rakyat Amerika, ataupun askar Pakatan Utara, membunuhnya dan tidak ingin ditangkap sebagai orang tahanan oleh mereka kerana itu bererti satu kekalahan besar kepadanya.

"Kerana itu Osama Laden telah memberi pesan kepada para pembantunya yang terus bersamanya hingga ke saat akhir nanti seandainya dia terkepung oleh musuh dan tidak ada jalan untuk melepaskan diri," demikian kata akhbar harian Arab itu lagi.

Osama Laden telahpun meminta semua pembantunya mengangkat sumpah dan berikrar di hadapannya bahawa mereka akan melaksanakan ikrar mereka dan mereka semuanya bersetuju, kata akhbar itu.

"Malahan Osama Laden telah meminta salah seorang anak lelakinya menembak beliau untuk mengelakkan dia ditangkap oleh askar Amerika atau askar musuh pasukan Afghan. Dia percaya adalah lebih baik mati di tangan orang-orangnya dan anaknya, daripada disauk oleh para musuhnya.

Dia telah merakamkan wasiatnya secara rakaman video, yang mungkin disiarkan, seandainya beliau sudah mati. Dalam rakaman itu, Osama Laden menggesa lebih banyak serangan terhadap Amerika di mana juga di dunia ini, kata Al-Watan.

Maklumat yang tidak boleh disahkan itu, dilaporkan telah diterima oleh pentadbiran AS beberapa hari yang lalu dalam satu majlis taklimat yang memberi penerangan mengenai jumlah pegawai tentera dan keselamatan Taliban yang sudah berpaling tadah.

Sumber Pakistan yang tidak disebut namanya dan wartawan Pakistan Hamid Mir, yang telah menemubual Osama Laden di Afghanistan, telah memperakukan maklumat itu, kata akhbar harian tersebut.

Akhbar itu menambah, betapa Osama Laden telah berpindah-randah sejak jatuhnya Mazar-e-Sharif minggu lalu "ditemani oleh 200 pengawal yang bersenjata lengkap daripada orang Arab dan pejuang Islam bukan-Afghan yang merupakan anggota al-Qaeda.

Al-Watan berkata, mengikut maklumat yang diterima oleh Amerika Syarikat, besar kemungkinannya Osama Laden menyorok di kalangan satu kumpulan kecil pengikutnya dan ahli keluarga mereka di pergunungan di persekitaran kubu-kuat Taliban di Kandahar.

Dia memang sejak lama dulu lagi menyediakan beberapa tempat persembunyian di pergunungan dan melengkapnya dengan kemudahan untuk bertahan berbulan lamanya, kata akhbar itu.

Al-Watan berkata, Washington menganggapnya sebagai "satu kemudahan seandainya" Osama Laden dapat dibunuh berbanding dia ditangkap hidup-hidup dan terpaksa pula mengadilinya di mahkamah.

Pada Khamis lalu, Washington telah menaikkan wang upahan untuk maklumat yang mendorong tertangkapnya Osama Laden daripada lima juta dollar kepada 25 juta dollar.(Tetapi, puak Taliban kemudiannya menawarkan upah sebanyak 50 juta dollar kalau sesiapa dapat membawakan kepala George Bush - penterjemah).

Terjemahan: SPAR.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/221101/dlame50.asp

Kill me before Americans get me: Osama

AFP Riyadh, November 21

Osama bin Laden, hunted by US special forces for masterminding the September terror attacks, has told aides to kill him before he is captured by American troops, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

And the Saudi-born radical has left a will on videotape urging more attacks on US interests, Al-Watan newspaper said.

"Bin Laden has informed a number of people close and dedicated to him that he was living his last weeks or days," the daily said, quoting "highly informed US and European diplomatic sources" in Paris.

"He refuses to allow Americans, or members of the Afghan Northern Alliance, to kill him, and also refuses to be taken prisoner by them because that will be a major defeat for him.

"So, bin Laden has instructed those aides who remain with him until the end to shoot him if he is surrounded by US special forces or the Northern Alliance, and there is no escape," the Arabic daily added.

Bin Laden has asked those aides to swear before him they would abide by these instructions and they did, the paper said.

"Bin Laden has even asked one of his sons to shoot him instead of being captured by the Americans or Afghan opposition. He believes that it's better to die at the hands of his aides or his sons, rather than being captured by his enemies."

He had recorded his political "will", or last testament on a videotape, which is to be broadcast after his death. In the tape, bin Laden urges more strikes on US interests everywhere, al-Watan said.

The information, which could not be independently confirmed, was reportedly received by the US administration in recent days after the debriefing of a number of military and security officials who have defected from the Taliban militia.

Unnamed Pakistani sources and Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, the last correspondent to interview bin Laden in Afghanistan, had confirmed the information, the daily said.

It added that bin Laden has been on the move since the fall of Mazar-e-Sharif last week "along with a 200-strong heavily armed force comprising Arabs and other non-Afghan Muslims who are members of the Al-Qaeda organisation."

Al-Watan said that according to the information obtained by the United States, bin Laden is most probably hiding along with a small group of his followers and family members in the mountains around the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

He has prepared a number of mountain hideouts and equipped them to survive for several months, the paper said.

Al-Watan said that for Washington it was "much more appropriate" to have bin Laden dead, rather than capture him alive and have to put him on trial.