The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Dubai

Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said on Wednesday Osama bin Laden was well and reports he was sick were false.

"Sheikh Osama bin Laden is in good health," the militant leader said in response to questions compiled by Islamist Web sites. "The ill-intentioned always try to circulate false reports about him being sick." Zawahri, who, like Bin Laden is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan, also denounced the United Nations and vowed to attack Jews both within and outside Israel. "The United Nations is an enemy of Islam and Muslims," he said. He defended attacks on U.N. offices in an apparent reference to twin bomb attacks on U.N. buildings in Algiers which killed 41 people in December and the 2003 bombing of a U.N. building in Baghdad which killed 22. Zawahri also called for attacks on Jews. "We promise our Muslim brothers that we will do our utmost to strike Jews in Israel and abroad with help and guidance from God."