Osama Tape Delivery Guy Nabbed?

Police are questioning a Sudanese man they suspect delivered a tape-recorded message last month from Osama bin Laden to an Arab television network reporter in Islamabad, a security official said Monday.

The man worked for the World Assembly for Muslim Youth, a Saudi Arabian-based charity, said the security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The office of the charity was raided last week by Pakistani intelligence officials and American FBI agents, he said. It wasn't immediately known what evidence they may have gathered.

In the tape, broadcast by the Arab television network on Nov. 12, bin Laden praised the nightclub bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed nearly 200 people and the takeover of a Moscow theater by Chechen rebels that ended in the deaths of 129 hostages and 41 attackers.

American experts say they believe the tape is authentic and unedited.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry has said it is stepping up efforts to "track the footprints" of those helping al Qaeda.

On Sunday, a statement attributed to al Qaeda threatened faster, harder strikes against the United States and Israel. The message appeared on a militant Web site.

"The Jewish Crusader coalition will not be safe anywhere from the fighters' attacks," the audio statement said, using a term common among Islamic militants for what they see as a U.S.-Israeli alliance.

"We will hit the most vital centers and we will strike against its strategic operations with all possible means."

The statement was attributed to al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. The site, which has posted previous statements attributed to the terror network, included what appeared to be a photograph taken from a frame from video of Abu Ghaith.

The Web site also posted a text version of the statement.

The pan-Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera broadcast parts of the audio version and said the voice sounded similar to that on past al Qaeda videotapes featuring Abu Ghaith.

In Washington, a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the al Qaeda statement amounted to no more than a "same song, different day" threat.

"We will chase the enemy using the weapon of 'terror' by widening fighting fronts and conducting more concentrated and faster operations ... so (the enemy) feels unsafe and unstable on land, air and sea," the statement said.

The statement also said a purported al Qaeda claim of responsibility for the Nov. 28 attacks on Israel targets in Kenya was genuine. That claim was posted on several other Islamic sites last week.

In the twin attacks on Kenya's Indian Ocean resort, suicide bombers slammed a carload of explosives into a hotel crowded with Israelis. The blast, near the city of Mombasa, killed 10 Kenyans and three Israelis.

An Israeli security official briefing reporters on condition of anonymity said Monday that Israel has stepped up security at installations abroad. The official singled out Europe, Thailand and the Philippines as areas of special concern.

Some 2 million of Israel's 6.5 million citizens go abroad each year, according to Tourism Ministry data. Many are young people fresh out of the military, sometimes taking yearlong trips before heading to college or jobs.

The custom took off in the 1990s, the heyday of Mideast peacemaking, when previously unfriendly countries such as India and China were opening up to Israel. For Israelis, it felt like the lifting of a 50-year siege. Now the peace effort is in disarray, and an Andean or Himalayan trek represents escape from the daily horrors of conflict with the Palestinians.

With international terrorism rampant, however, overseas no longer feels so safe.