Al-Jazeera TV airs bin Laden tape condeming U.S.

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- A Qatar-based television station aired a videotape Wednesday of Osama bin Laden, whose statements indicated he was speaking in the first half of December.

Dressed in green military fatigues, a pale and gaunt looking bin Laden referred to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying he was speaking "three months after the blessed attack against the international infidels and its leaders, the United States, and two months after the beginning of the vicious aggression against Islam."

Al-Jazeera said it would air the full, 30-minute tape on Thursday.

Bin Laden, who is speaking in front of a brown backdrop, a gun propped up beside him, also refers to the bombing of a mosque in Khost, Afghanistan, saying it happened "several days" before. U.S. Central Command said an errant U.S. bomb damaged a mosque in the town of Khost on Nov. 16.

"All that you hear about mistaken strikes is a lie and a sheer lie," bin Laden said. "Several days ago, they bombed as, they claimed, 'positions of a Taliban base in Khost' and sent a missile to a mosque and said it was a mistake."